As a young boy, alone in my suburban living room in California in the 1980s, I turned on the TV one day alone. The images were of US soldiers engaged in combat. Frightened, I thought we were being invaded. I was just 5 years old. I ran to wake my mom. She spirited out of bed to see. Within in seconds she knew the US was invading Grenada. For her, this was a trifling matter, and she returned to her slumber. Sometimes, I remember the fear I experienced, and my mother’s initial concern, when I think of people living in the countries the US has invaded. I also think of the reaction of my mother. Most under-class Americans don’t invest their mental energy into serious thought of US military actions abroad.

Since that time, I took notice of the US invasion of Panama, our first invasion of Iraq in 1991. The brutal sanctions we imposed. Our invasion of Somalia in 1993, Bosnia in 1994, Sudan in 1998, Yugoslavia in 1999 and the wars we engaged in and the occupations following 9/11. During this time, my personal experience of witnessing the US invasions of foreign nations, China engaged in no major wars. Beyond some minor border skirmishes, China remained largely at peace.

China also accomplished something no other modern nation has ever achieved, and during the same period just mentioned. China went from being one of the poorest countries in the world, to being one of, if not the country with the most total wealth. As measured by purchasing power parity, China has the largest GDP in the world now, or ever in human history. The US did so using enormous military engagements. And the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, the Dutch, and Belgium all came to great wealth through global imperialism and planet-wide exploitation and the plundering of other nations. Not China. China’s rise to wealth was done with manufacturing and in business with the other nations of the world.

We’ve established some quite obvious and basic axioms. From 1983, at least, to now, the USA has invaded countless nations, China has invaded none, and China has risen to become a major economic player in the world today.

It was from 2001 to 2003, that I first really began to understand what Noam Chomsky meant in his seminal book “Manufacturing Consent.” From the mid-nineties to then, it was clear, the US had every intention of returning to Iraq to rewrite the country to serve the US global vision of nations faithful to the vision of the world held in Washington DC. From 2001 to 2003, the US spared no expense whipping up media, and international forums to frame Iraq as an imminent danger to the region and to peace. This culminated in the US led invasion of the country, and an endless occupation. The US retains a base there even today, after the so-called withdrawal. But it was this period between 2001 and 2003, which gives me caution and cause for concern.

Now that China’s economy if significant, the ever-watchful eye of the Pentagon has its eye on China. And media in the west is attempting to portray China as an imminent threat to global peace. Given the US has invaded, or helped over throw dozens of countries in the past few decades, and China has invaded none, this is an insane viewpoint for western media to sell to the public. Moreover, given the US desire to manufacture consent for conflict, its even more ironic given US media is intent on framing China as a threat, as this media’s purpose is setting the stage for the US to create a military conflict.

No. China is not a threat to the peace. China is the peace. And the US media and the ‘experts-for-hire’ in the US claiming China is a threat to peace are the threats to peace. The facts matter.