A giant screen showing news footage of China's Xi Jinping speaking virtually to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, which was being held in India, at a shopping mall in Beijing on July 4, 2023. Xi urged the leaders of Russia, Iran and other Shanghai alliance states on July 7 to boost ties and resist sanctions. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)
China, Russia, and Iran are the new “axis of evil,” according to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). In an interview with Fox News on Oct. 22, he said that aggressions by the three dictatorships, including in Ukraine, Israel, and the South China Sea, are “connected” and pose an “immediate threat to the United States.”
The most recent attack by one Iranian proxy, Hamas, killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in Israel. That had predictable consequences for Gazan civilians, almost 5,800 of whom are dead, according to the Palestinian health ministry on Oct. 24.
Rather than pressure Iran to free the hostages and thus help stop the war, the world’s most dangerous dictators in Russia and China are using the conflict to burnish their credentials with the world’s Muslim-majority countries, who tend to support Palestinians over Israel.
While the United States is trying to help all its partners most under threat, including Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, the U.S. budget is under strain. In going public about the “axis of evil,” Mr. McConnell is apparently trying to get public support for new spending that will fund the defense of both Israel and Ukraine simultaneously. He dodged questions during the interview about separating the votes for Israel and Ukraine, so members of Congress have more control over what exactly taxpayer dollars fund.
Some Republicans, such as a group in the House of Representatives associated with former President Donald Trump, would prefer to support Israel without voting more money for Ukraine. They argue that over a year and a half of mounting costs in Ukraine, lack of impressive territorial gains, and a rising U.S. federal debt of $33 trillion amid growing annual deficits of almost $1.7 trillion, tough choices are necessary. Some would argue that cutting off U.S. funding to Ukraine would force Europe to increase its historically low defense budgets and fund Ukraine’s weapons needs. That would allow the United States to shift its focus to Asia and the Middle East, which also require stabilization.
Not coincidentally, U.S. resources are diminishing at a time of more robust cooperation by the “axis of evil.” On Oct. 18, Russia’s Vladimir Putin met with China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing to promote the latter’s $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing also promoted its new approach to global governance under the Chinese Communist Party’s three “global initiatives”: the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilisation Initiative, plus a new one on artificial intelligence.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin leaves the podium following his speech during the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 18, 2023. (PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)
On Oct. 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to Iran to meet with the Iranian president in what the Russian ministry described as a “traditionally trusting atmosphere.” Russia’s military relies on Iranian exports of lethal drones, including for use against civilian targets throughout Ukraine. Mr. Lavrov visited Iran shortly after visiting China and North Korea.
Iranian proxies in not only Gaza but also Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Libya are attacking U.S. and Israeli forces in what could develop into a third world war, according to Robert Clark, who previously served in the British Army and is now director of defense and security at the Civitas Institute.
“The aftermath of the Hamas terror attack upon Israel could now see the Middle East ignited,” he wrote for The Telegraph on Oct. 23. The inflamed Middle East is distracting the United States from the war in Ukraine and what threatens to become a war over Taiwan. China could use escalation in the Middle East as the opportunity to attack Taiwan, drawing in the United States and “plunging the world into a third world war,” according to Mr. Clark.
The Washington Post reported on Oct. 23 that the United States is planning for a “worst-case scenario” in the Middle East requiring the evacuation of 600,000 U.S. citizens from Israel and Lebanon. The Biden administration “is deeply alarmed by the prospect of escalation, and in recent days it has turned its attention in part to the complicated logistics of abruptly having to relocate a large number of people,” according to the report.
While the United States is drawn into conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, Beijing appears to be pushing its allies Russia and Iran into the front of the fighting so China remains above the fray. But Beijing is at least appearing to do its part for its axis partners by increasing the heat on the Philippines in the South China Sea with its floating barrier at Scarborough Shoal in September, and on Oct. 23, its dangerous intimidation of ships that resupply Philippine military outposts on the islands.
As global instability mounts, U.S. resources are increasingly overburdened. But defeating the “axis of evil” is sufficiently important to find new sources of revenue to maintain the strength of all our democratic partners, including Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
As Mr. McConnell rightly points out, China and Iran are watching our resolve. If we show weakness anywhere, as we did with the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2020, it will only embolden the “axis of evil” in attacks that could eventually reach American shores.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Anders Corr has a bachelor's/master's in political science from Yale University (2001) and a doctorate in government from Harvard University (2008). He is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk, and has conducted extensive research in North America, Europe, and Asia. His latest books are “The Concentration of Power: Institutionalization, Hierarchy, and Hegemony” (2021) and “Great Powers, Grand Strategies: the New Game in the South China Sea" (2018).
