The confrontation between the United States and China is entering a new, more dangerous phase. Hostility is mounting, writes the British magazine The Economist, assessing the situation.
Chinese officials and CCP officials are furious at what they call American bullying. In Beijing, it is said that the United States has decided to “beat China to death”, that is, Destroy it.
In turn, Washington is fighting for its unconditional dominance over the world and is not going to stop. Each side follows its own inexorable logic.
The United States has adopted a policy of containment against the PRC, although it refuses to use the term officially. Meanwhile, anti-Western President Xi Jinping is expected to stay in power in China for years to come, with relations to come.
Xi’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that his goal is to build an alternative world order more loyal to “autocracies, not democracies”.
Seeing what is happening, the United States is accelerating the military containment of China in Asia. In the area of trade and technology, the United States imposes a strict and expanding embargo on semiconductors and other products. The goal is to slow down innovation and development in China so that the West can maintain its technological leadership.
The United States, according to Chinese leaders, considers itself exceptional. Therefore, they will never agree that a country can be as powerful as itself, whether communist or democratic. The United States will only tolerate China if it is a submissive “fat cat, not a tiger.”
The organization of Asian military alliances by the Americans means that China senses an attempt at encirclement in its own natural sphere of influence and tries to thwart it. Red lines agreed upon in the 1970s, including on Taiwan when the two countries were rebuilding their relationship, are now being trampled underfoot by ignorant and reckless US politicians.
Washington must be clearly aware that their confrontation is not with the Chinese people, but with the leadership in Beijing and the threat they pose to peace and human rights.
