Dragon Flexes Muscle: Asia Faces War Clouds
By Gopal Misra
Fragile peace may finally usher in East Europe with Ukraine conceding most of the Russian speaking regions to Moscow.
Even before the drawing of the curtains in the nearly four -year old Russian-Ukraine War, peace remains elusive. The light may remain dim in spite of the series of the talks held between the US President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the last week of December. A peace format is being given final touches before the substantial peace negotiations could be worked out with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in January 2026.
Even before a peace accord could be signed in Europe, Beijing has begun its muscle-flexing against Taiwan, the last abode of the democracy-lover Chinese. The ongoing military exercise in the China sea is quite provocative and it is not known whether the US has given adequate warning to the Chinese President Xi Jinping against any daring action against Taiwan.
It may be recalled that in a bid to woo Beijing to the American camp and to augment the West’s designs against the formidable USSR, the then US President Richard Nixon had held secret parleys with China.
Interestingly,
Interestingly, the Communists worldwide have never explained why Mao Zedong, the Communist autocrat, who called Khrushchev and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union “revisionist” didn’t hesitate to flirt with its arch enemy, America.
Amidst these dangerous developments, Israel has reportedly augmented its defence ties with South Sudan, a predominant Christian country in Africa amidst Muslim countries of the region.
It may be recalled that the undivided Sudan was governed as an Anglo-Egyptian protectorate having substantial presence of Arab Muslims in its northern region. The country despite having common heritage was divided on the basis of the religious difference between Muslims and Christians.
The conflict between the Cross and Crescent was witnessed during the civil war in the country.
It is believed that on the advice of the West, during the
Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005), the Sharia law was imposed on the Christians of South Sudan. It finally led to the division of the country.
Thus, the world ushers in the New Year under a fragile peace environment. It is to be ascertained yet the repercussions of the decline of the ties between Japan and China. It is stated to be caused by the statement of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks in November 2025 that there is a possibility of his country’s involvement in a conflict over Taiwan.
Reluctance of West
The US as well as its allies in the West are keeping silent on the statement. In recent weeks, China however, has been trying to persuade their leaders to condemn the Japanese statement.
Beijing has reminded leaders of the U.S.U.K. and France to support its position. It argues that “Taiwan’s return to China is an integral part of the post-war international order.” It is repeatedly being quoted in the Chinese media that Xi Jinping had reiterated his country’s stand during his telephonic conversation with President Trump on 24 November 2025. Trump, however, has made no mention of the Taiwan issue in a social media post about the call.
Just on the eve of the Chinese military exercises, Dragon’s news agency, Xinhua, has released a photo on 22 December of Jinping, also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) with Yang Zhibin of the Eastern Theater Command and Han Shengyan commander of Central Theater Command in Beijing leading the military exercise.
The initial reports indicate that more than one lakh international air travelers of Taiwan are being forced to suffer due to the exercise.
According to a few defence and strategic affairs analysts, the drills are an expression of Beijing’s anger against the recent huge arms deal between the US and Taiwan.
European War
It appears that Ukraine has finally decided to concede the Russian-speaking areas to Moscow, mostly concentrated in the East and South. They include major cities like Kharkiv, Odessa, Donetsk, and Luhansk, where Russian often served as a primary language alongside Ukrainian.
It may be noted that initially Russia was reluctant to annex Crimea despite being overwhelmingly Russian-speaking.
Moscow during the Communist Party’ gifted Crimea to Ukraine for making sacrifices during World War-II against Hitler’s forces. The relationship between Russia and Ukraine suffered in recent years, when the West started using Ukraine as an ally against Russia. There were deliberate efforts to undermine Russia’s traditional influence in Eastern Europe and Eurasia by enlisting a number of countries in NATO. It may be noted that after the disintegration of the USSR, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved, but the West decided to retain NATO as a strategic institution to serve the West.
In spite of the recent expansion of NATO, the Russian forces have successfully occupied most of Donbas (Donetsk & Luhansk Oblasts) and Kharkiv. They are major eastern cities with a long history of Russian as a language of administration and education. Similarly, Odessa is a key Black Sea port city, almost entirely Russian-speaking.
In 2014, the Russian troops had seized control of Crimea. It was condemned by the West as a violation of Ukrainian sovereignty but justified by Russia as protecting ethnic Russians and securing strategic interests, particularly its Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol, a situation that significantly escalated post-2014 tensions.
The current situation shows how the West could divide the people by engineering ethnic and religious issues.
The treatment of Russian speaking people is one of the key reasons for the Russian intervention or aggression.
During the past four years, the Ukrainian government has reportedly imposed restrictions on Russian culture (music, books), and some societal hostility, driven by a national push for “decolonization” and Ukrainian identity, though some argue this borders on discrimination, with calls for “linguicide” from Russia, while Ukrainian officials emphasize protecting Ukrainian culture.
The Religious Division
During the past 10 years, the
Orthodox in Ukraine have separated from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), formalized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2019. It has allowed setting up of the
Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), a move that formalized separation from centuries of Russian oversight.
Another reason for the Russian anger could be traced to the emergence of the Pro-Nazi” elements in Ukraine. With their inclusion in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and National Guard has further given these rightists to harass the Russian -speaking people.
Meanwhile, Russia has accused Ukrainian conspiracy to blast Putin’s residence might further escalate the ongoing conflict.
Thus, 2026, is expected to be full of turmoil
Ends.