China-U.S. Relations, Bad to Worse
From the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979 to 1990, Sino-US relations can be said to be a moderate period. The success of the U.S. strategy of uniting China to contain Russia led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. During that time, U.S.-China relations were warm. However, U.S. hegemonic politics and hegemonic diplomacy have not been practiced since World War II, only with some adjustments as the world situation changes. From the end of World WW II to the end of the last century, the competition and suppression by the U.S. against any resurgent economic powers, like France, Germany, Japan, Russia, etc., clearly demonstrated the U.S. hegemonic behavior. China's economy was also recovering then, and it had grown even more after 1990. In the 21st century, China joined the World Trade Organization (12-11-2001c became a WTO member), and its economy was growing rapidly. By 2010, China's GDP has surpassed Japan's to become the second largest in the world. As a result, the U.S. regards China as a competitor and gradually increases its anti-China tactics, making the relationship between the U.S. and China intense today. The U.S. launched a tariff war and then a technology war against China and targeted China as the number one competitor of the United States.
Hegemonic Diplomatic Monorail Strategy
In the last century, the U.S. economy once reached 40% of the global scale. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the U.S. became the world’s largest military power. The U.S. has hundreds to near a thousand military bases around the world and has eleven aircraft carriers. The U.S. uses the U.S. dollar as the exchange currency for world trade, which allows it to control the global economy in its hegemonic palm. Under such a dominating situation, the U.S. puts too much emphasis on its military industry enterprises, turning its own economy into a "monorail train": that is, selling arms for high profits, agitating and launching wars for sustaining its military-industrial complex, and maintaining its leading position in military-industrial technologies. However, this monorail train has met China's comprehensive economic development strategy based on supporting and elevating its people's livelihood (which can be visualized as a 'dual-track high-speed railway'). China's infrastructure (railways, highways, ports, airports, dams, power transmission, and communications) has laid the foundation for supporting a comprehensive manufacturing chain providing its people's livelihood needs, and has developed into an economy with the dual-track rapid development of internal consumer economy and external strong trade (world’s manufacturer). The monorail analogy of the U.S. economy, by contrast, can not match the speed of the dual-track high-speed train. In the competition between the U.S. and China, China's economy seems to be destined to surpass that of the U.S. soon. This makes the American politicians in power feel uneasy, thus they like sick people have the urge to grab medicine recklessly. So the U.S.-China policy and the strategy against China appear to be out of order.
Wishful Thinking Towards Reality
American politicians are mostly influenced by American history. Only a few scholars pay attention to world history, and yet many ignore the long history of China. Since the founding of the U.S. 247 years ago, the U.S. has luckily and successfully become a hegemony, and it has become accustomed to hegemonic behavior in politics and the economy. Therefore, its politicians often have wishful thinking, which is used in setting assumptions, planning strategies, and making predictions in foreign affairs. Hence, in many diplomatic and international affairs, the U.S. wishful thinking eventually led to failure. The Korean War and the Vietnam War are examples, and Iraq and Afghanistan are even more obvious. The recent Ukrainian war is also a wishful thinking plot of the U.S. - Ukraine will win and Russia will be dragged down by sanctions. In fact, this is not the case. The US alliance strategy to suppress China is also wishful thinking. The China hawks think that if China's economy is disrupted, the regime will be unstable and collapse. But we should know that China has accumulated thousands of years of historical experience, and its implementation of an anti-hegemony strategy against American hegemonic power has already worked and resonated among many countries. Small nations are unwilling to choose sides between the U.S. and China, countries with feuds can reconcile with the mediation effort by China, and the Belt and Road Initiative has gathered global citizens’ hearts. China builds an army for defense, and uses highly leveraged investments to counter the U.S.'s aggressive armament (far reaching on the globe). The U.S. fantasizes about playing the Taiwan card like the Ukraine case, but the Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait having the same culture, the same blood, and the same interests will eventually crack the puppet government controlled by the CIA. Based on some realistic analyses, the outcome of the US-China confrontation has already been apparent. The U.S. relies on its allies as proxy fighters willing to die first. Who wants to die first among Indian, Australian, Japanese, and South Korean soldiers? Can the one who died first see who will die next? Is there any benefit in dying first for the U.S.?
In the end, won’t everyone agree to put away nuclear weapons and jointly develop a double-track high-speed railway for the world? Won’t American politicians finally accept the reality?!