US involvement in Ukraine crisis odious: China Daily editorial

A small number of Pentagon documents on the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, including some marked "top secret", were posted on Twitter and Telegram on Wednesday. Since then, journalists, researchers and social media sleuths have uncovered additional classified documents posted as early as March 1 on additional sites.

But it is not the leak that is the most surprising aspect about the classified documents but how deeply the United States is involved in the conflict and how much it is doing to help Ukraine. Despite its denial of direct involvement, the US is already a de facto participant in the conflict, considering both the military and intelligence aid it has offered to Ukraine.

The documents that have appeared on social media only serve to tell the world that the US is part of the hostilities, and what it has been doing is meant to make the conflict continue. Behind the rhetoric of "supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression" is the US' geopolitical thinking of dividing the world into two camps as it did during the Cold War.

With another camp which is supposed to pose a threat both militarily and ideologically to the camp headed by the US, Washington can continue to make the case that the European Union countries must unite under the banner of North Atlantic Treaty Organization to seek the protection of the US.

Only under such a "dual-polar" global framework will the US be able to maintain its hegemony, which has been almost shattered by the globalization of the world economy and the increasingly multipolarized world.

If anything, the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has provided Washington with a glimmer of hope that it may be possible to make the military conflict a protracted war and thus divide the world into two camps: the one that supports Ukraine and the other that supports Russia.

That explains why Washington has made no efforts at all to mediate between the two parties and has excluded any possibility of a political settlement of the conflict.

Think what will happen if the war continues for years to come and EU countries have to continue their military aid to Ukraine, and the world is deeply divided because of the conflict.

The global industry and supply chains will be disrupted or even shattered. The EU's economy will be seriously affected. The development of the global economy which has already suffered considerably because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict will see no hope of recovery. Neither will those in need of help for survival in developing countries see any hope of shaking off poverty.

It is both selfish and callous of Washington to do whatever it can to make the hostilities continue and do nothing to seek a political settlement of the conflict. Global efforts are needed to bring Ukraine and Russia to the negotiation table for a political solution as early as possible. That is the way to maintain world peace and development, and that is what China is doing.