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The idea of a Cold War II between the West and China has quickly evolved from a misleading analogy into a self-fulfilling prophecy. But contemporary China is nothing like the Soviet Union, and in today's world, we simply cannot afford another clash of mutually exclusive systems.
By Redaktion Table
During the Covid epidemic, the Chinese state has enabled local governments to borrow at record levels. They are supposed to use it to pay for infrastructure projects and thus boost the economy. As a result, China's economy has grown as desired but so has the debt burden. Depending on how it is calculated, it even exceeds US debt as a share of GDP. But China has some decisive advantages.
By Frank Sieren
The relationship between China and the USA is strained, but of immense importance for geopolitics. Table.Media's editorial team brings you all the relevant news on the topic.
U.S.-China relations are also referred to as Sino-American relations. The economic rise of the People's Republic and its aspirations to become a political, military and economic superpower have caused tensions in the relationship with the USA, which in turn would like to retain this role. Sino-American relations are marked by political and economic antagonisms. New disputes keep arising, leading to trade wars, sanctions and diplomatic conflicts. There is no improvement in sight, given China's continued rise and America's self-image as the world's police.
However, the relationship between China and the United States has not always been so strained. Officially, the two countries have maintained an intergovernmental relationship since 1844. At that time, however, it was still the Chinese Empire. While European countries forced the empire into unequal treaties aimed at exploiting China, the U.S. advocated an open-door policy. The desire was for all major powers to have equal access to China. America even called on European countries to recognize China's territorial and administrative integrity. In the late 1920s, the U.S. also recognized the new Kuomintang government in China, but did not intervene in China's favor when Japan began to pursue a bloody policy of expansion in the 1930s. It was not until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 that the United States participated in World War II alongside China. Japan surrendered unconditionally.
After defeating the Nationalist Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist People's Army founded the current People's Republic of China under head of state Mao Zedong in 1949. The Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, founded the Republic of China there and made a claim to sole representation. The American government recognized it. In America's eyes, the government of Taiwan was the legitimate representative of all of China. This changed when there was a rupture between the Soviet Union and China. A change in thinking set in at the White House. In 1971, the United Nations recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole representative of China. The following year, even the then U.S. President Richard Nixon visited the People's Republic. The rapprochement between China and the United States went down in history as ping-pong diplomacy.
The period of reform and opening-up starting in 1978 triggered an initial economic boom in China. Accordingly, ties between America and the People's Republic became ever closer. The volume of trade increased. However, the tiger economies also succeeded in economic recovery. First South Korea, Singapore and Hongkong, with some delay also Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. But first and foremost was Taiwan, where political liberalization began in the 1980s. In elections, the people of Taiwan made it clear that they had no interest in becoming part of the People's Republic of China. China reacted with military threats, which put America on the scene. China's claims to power in the Indo-Pacific region caused massive upheavals in Sino-American relations that continue to this day.
In September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States formed the Indo-Pacific Security Alliance, or AUKUS. The acronym is an acronym of the three countries involved (Australia, United Kingdom, United States). Although China is not mentioned in the agreement, the alliance aims to contain the growing influence of the People's Republic in the Indo-Pacific region. Observers speak of a scenario reminiscent of the Cold War. Within the framework of the AUKUS security alliance, Australia is being supported in the development of nuclear submarines. In addition, there is to be cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum technology and various cyber topics. China describes the agreement as a threat to regional peace and sees it as promoting the global arms race.
In 2016, relations between China and the USA deteriorated dramatically. The then new US President Donald Trump accuses the People's Republic of unilateral economic policies, disregard for intellectual property and unfair trade conditions. In 2018, tensions reached a new peak when Trump ordered punitive tariffs on imports from China. Initially, $50 billion worth of goods are affected. Just one year later, goods worth $500 billion - in other words, all U.S. imports from the People's Republic - are already affected. The final escalation of the trade dispute between the US and China came on December 1, 2018, when Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder, was arrested in Canada. She is accused of circumventing U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei is becoming a central issue in the trade dispute between China and the United States, and not just because of the arrest of its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou. Then-U.S. President Donald Trump accused the company of using its 5G technology to spy on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese military. Trump introduced a blacklist on which he had a total of forty Chinese companies placed. Acting U.S. President Joe Biden added 59 more companies to that list. Chinese companies on the blacklist will have more difficult access to American technologies. U.S. companies that want to trade with them need an exemption to do so.
Officially, the U.S. blacklist serves to remove from the global marketplace companies whose technologies "facilitate oppression or serious human rights abuses." Observers agree, however, that behind it lie primarily geopolitical interests. The goal of U.S. policy toward China, they say, is above all to prevent the People's Republic from rising to become a technology leader in future fields such as digitization and a geopolitical world power. Relations between China and the United States are currently characterized by what is known as decoupling. It is the unbundling of the American and Chinese economies. Politically, both parties are striving to find new partners in geopolitics; economically, imports and exports are to be reduced. China is also pushing the principle of dual circulation. By this, the Communist Party means strengthening the domestic market.
America's relationship with China is also overshadowed by the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 21 (USICA). A bill passed jointly by Democrats and Republicans. It provides greater subsidies to build technology centers and increase scholarships. $250 billion is earmarked for this purpose. 52 billion for semiconductor production alone. The U.S. government wants to reduce its dependence on China. It speaks of a threat in connection with the People's Republic. China passed the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law in return. A legal framework that establishes Communist Party responses to U.S. sanctions. It allows for punishment of individuals who engage in "discriminatory measures against Chinese citizens" or "interference in China's internal affairs." The Anti-Sanctions Law also grants Chinese citizens and organizations the right to sue for damages.
China is considered the world's number two behind America in the field of aerospace travel. But the People's Republic has challenged the space superpower with ambitious projects and is striving for technological leadership in this field. With the equivalent of 7.5 billion euros in 2020, China is spending more money on space travel than any other single country. And in doing so, the country is succeeding. China has had a probe collect rock samples on the moon, a robot transported to Mars, and a manned space station orbiting the Earth. When the ISS project ends in a few years, that will be the only human presence in space. The U.S. sees this as a challenge and has called the next Space Race. A competition that already existed in the 1960s during the Cold War with Russia. For China, however, space travel is more an end in itself, scientists believe. It is about economic growth, military interests, national self-confidence, research and development, and less about defeating America.
China is also pushing ahead with its space program on its own because the USA has forbidden cooperation with the People's Republic. That is why the Chinese are not involved in the International Space Station or the Artemis lunar program. China therefore plans to complete a lunar base in 2036. Together with Russia, which wants to get out of the ISS project. The U.S. and China are the world's two largest economic powers and technology drivers. Their laws and policies affect all economies and all geopolitics. That's why the Table.Media editorial team brings you all the relevant news on the Sino-American relationship.