After the battles over Taiwan, Tibet, trade, climate change and internet freedom, China-US relations are once more in the spotlight. A recent poll suggests more than half of Chinese people think they’re heading towards a new Cold War.
It’s a hot topic for bloggers in the East and the West. Ex-marine Merv Benson supports a heavy-handed approach by the US. For him ‘China has a real problem that is not being focused on. If it goes to war with the US, it will not only not receive the payment on the US debt it holds, but it will also lose the largest market its companies serve. It would be an economic disaster for China’
Other bloggers think China should show the US who’s boss. Blogger Chinh Dang-Vu says ‘the battles over exports, technology transfer, copyright piracy and the value of China’s currency, the yuan, would be fierce.’
Despite the avid interest in relations between the two, Mike Shaw, a Bostonian blogger in Beijing thinks recent events are nothing more than ‘squabbles amongst friendly competitors, not clashes of nations whose goals are to dominate the other’.
So are China and the US on the brink of a new Cold War? If they are who will win? or is it just a spat between two powerful nations?
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It’s not US-Chinese politics that concern me. What concerns me is that China has an absolutely enormous amount of US debt (trillions of dollars, I believe). They could cause a financial Armageddon tomorrow if they wanted to.
you’re absolutely right! no thanks to Bush!
Money talks ,when you are a borrower ,you are beggar;a fact that the US does not want to acknowledge.
China-US should go back to drawingboard and rethink world population depends on your foreign policy.
majid hoseinkhan
febrary 11 2010
i think it’s the us that always wants to dicdate it’s
policies.for a long time us has been telling the chines
about the prefrances of capitalisem and persuating them to go this way.now that they have done so, they are trying to noke them down.take dalaie lama for example;how would you like if a priest runs your country ?he might be good in temple but do you think he can run a 1.3bilion country?
Unfortunately it is not only a spat between two powerful nations. China feels it is its inalienable right to dictate terms with regard to Taiwan. The United States, on the other hand, feels it has the right to supply and enter into wepons deals with a sovereign Taiwan to shore up its defences.On the question of Tibet, China does not want the Dalai Lama to meet top world leaders and especially not President Obama. But the Americans feel the Tibetan religious leader has every right to meet the President. Further Obama has great respect for the leader and will not allow Chinese objections to stop this high priority The two nations are at odds on a varity of issues.
This is a tempest in a teapot.
the Jingoistic Chinese think they can destroy America by cashing in their promissory notes but all that will happen is the collapse of China. China is using those promissory notes to build China and one day become a first world nation.
Again, America will have used its power and financial might to help another nation climb out of the 3rd world morass and while we may argue and fuss with one another we will never go to war with one another.
I lived in China for almost all of 1999. The reigning assumption then (and still) was that the Twentieth Century was the American Century. China puts its claims on the Twenty First Century.
We’ll see…
I don’t believe there should be a super power, not certainly not America or China. They only serve their needs first. I would like to see a world governing body that looks very much like the United Nations that sets standards for care and education of the children and elderly, the environment and world business.
Margaret
Despite the prognostics, China can’t replace the USA as the first world power. Economically, China can be the first exporter or investor, but militarily and culturally, the USA is likely to remain a world power. China economic growth stems from embracing US liberalism tailored according to its ideology, which so far doesn’t cater for human rights according to US standards. One example of this is the internet censorship.
However, China and the USA should seek cooperation instead of confrontation for their own good and to the rest of the world. Lessons must be learnt from the previous Cold War between the USA and the former USSR. Both China and the USA should give the example of live and let live. They can have economic differences and conflicts, but they shouldn’t evolve into trade wars, which can generate into acute political differences affecting international stability.
Maybe, the USA and China should share the world. The USA can further its cooperation with rich countries while China strengthens its relations with poor ones. Setting such boundaries can perhaps appease them for a while.
I would prefer a world that opens all it boarders to all but extremist and terrorist.
I’m afraid it’s going to be a very interesting world,!The world biggest economy fighting the third or forth economy. Well one billion against 300 million people. Interestng outcome!
Superpowers rarely, if ever, fight directly against each other. They tend to fight their battles on proxy battlefields, for control of resources and markets. The US has the upper hand in being the incumbent which is already in control of strategic regions (e.g Middle East oil through occupation and pro-US dictators). It also has a disadvantage in that the people of the Middle East despise the US domination of their region, which China could play on to disloge the US. The control of Iran could be a significant point in these battles.
Neither
Today and in the near future, I’d like whys to focus the debate on ills that be-devil the 3rd world like global poverty and hunger, emerging development models, corruption, and how the youth can peacefully and effectively lead the process of re-generation by shifting political and economic power from old despots scattered across the continent.
I’m going to start learning Mandarin in preparation for the takeover.
I think it’s funny how people in the states are SO SCARED of socialism… well it seems to be going well for China.
-Anthony, LA, CA
Anthony please – in what way precisely is China socialist???
No welfare benefits, no health service, no workers rights, no consumer protection – it’s even more rampantly capitalist than the US.
Chairman Mao is long dead and all that remains is a totalitarian Govt. so this is the worst of all worlds.
I hold no brief whatsoever for what was done in the name of socialism in the Soviet Union, what was then Communist China and other supposedly socialist regimes like N. Korea, although I would leave Cuba out of that unlovely club, but I do wish some of you Americans would actually learn a bit about the rest of the world and be just a tad critical about your worship of that scared cow called capitalism, and maybe even stop seeing socialism as the Anti-Christ incarnate and source of all the world’s ills.
well put, Linda in Italy. I’m an American who doesn’t know whethr to laugh or cry at the ease which the body politic can be swayed by the word “socialism.” China IS totalitarian, what I see is a nation that is building itself with the worst characteristics of Joe Stalin and Andrew Carnegie.
I have been to China & Taiwan several times and both peoples are immensely pragmatic – they are Confucians in principle and whilst there may be some local difficulty from time to time they will resolve it without help from the US who continue to show no understanding of diplomacy beyond “do what I say or I will blow your head off” [Clinton is intellectually incompetent].
For example, at the local level China and Taiwan has developed much closer economic ties with significantl Taiwanese investment in the China mainland to take advantage of lower costs and easier distribution. Economics does drive politics rather than the other way round. After Iraq few trust the US [or UK] to resoilve international issues and anyway they cannot afford gunboat diplomacy.
The time for Confucian Diplomacy has arrived which promotes relationship, morality, justice and sincerity as the foundation for resolution and harmony – and it is primarily local not global – the US are not needed and their treaties and diplomacy need to move into the 21st century..
I don’t want to see anyone country leading the world. That only brings about an oligarchy. If people want to truely be free, The people have to lead each country, and each country would have to take an EQUAL part in guiding the world.
This will ever happen.
The day when any one country leads the world is a very very sad day.
Imagine what the world would be like if the Soviet Union had not been checked by
American might,I’ll guarantee most of the world would be enslaved by now. The people of the world should shutter to think what their plight might be if the U.S. was not able to counter the real global aggressors. Be careful what you wish for!
I’m afraid by listing only China, the U.S. and the U.N. you’ve left out the main contender for the role of world leader: multi-national business. They’ve got the bucks, they’ve got the contacts and they’ve got the clout. So what they are already doing behind the scenes will become more and more blatantly apparent as Big Business takes over the world (if it hasn’t already).
It’s unthinkable that the UN can rule the world as it is made of countries which often don’t see eye to eye how the world should be governed. The UN is currently a failure on many issues, essentially keeping peace around the world. Despite the presence of UN peacekeeping forces in many areas like DR Congo, there is no stability in the country.
As there is a continuous race between nations, only the strongest can lead. What remains to the others is to co-habit with the strongest and avoid direct conflicts. China and the USA are now heavy-weight nations. Sensibly, they should use their strength for a better world and not for its destruction through trade wars and even military confrontations.
Boukili is a wise man!
World War III will ever errupt, it will be fought over trivia. This is so because what we have as politics nowadays is nothing less than the game of Monopoly confined to people in top archelons and industrial moguls. They are showing off banks, market shares, and monolithic companies. The latest addition in the hip of assets are Internet search engines housed in the two palaces. I thought search engines are free enterprises – I have since revised that notion. They do understand very well that the arrogant games they are playing is dangerous and that is why they are armed to the teeth.
As for the rest of us, we getting enroled ignorantly to fight games in which there are no tangible benefits coming our way. However it might play – I have come to my conclusion that this is a worthless seasaw –
with my polite regret.
It seems to me we are all too interdependent for there to be a true “boss.”
Does anyone ask how the US went from thirteen states along the east coast to an empire with more than 700 bases around the world? It wasn’t by being Mister Nice Guy.
The US has been boss of the world for many years with lousy results. We’d all be better off if the US would go home.
There will not be any winners, only loosers. China has a lot of aces up their sleeves, and America hold the jokers. China has a closed and dictatorial government which will not serve any usefull purpose for the rest of the world and they know it. Better a cold war in the future, which will cause China to loose its huge exports to the rest of the world and where America are the huge importers, so that the industies that suffered in the past would come to fruitation again.
I agree with Mike Shaw that it is a squabbles amongst friendly competitors. How ever, China should respect the US free trading policy. After all, US – Taiwan trading history started sometime ago. And they say the world is big enough for all of us.
Neither of the choices is very appealing, though the UN should be leading the world right now. Unfortunately it does not have the backing or strength needed to guide the world.
I think it would come down to trust.
No one will trust the USA because we are at war in parts of the world were we shouldn’t be. We don’t play nice when we don’t get what we want. We have a group of cry baby Politicians constantly at odds with each other instead of working to better the lives of everyone.
No one will trust China because they lie even more than all the other large powerful countries. Their record of war,occupation and murder of other religious and cultural groups with in their reach is even worse than WWII Germany. No other Government will ever trust a country cruel enough to occupy a country like Tibet. No other country would trust a country that holds mass executions of minor criminals, or who has videos on the net showing soldiers shooting fleeing Tibetans in the back for the fun of it. No country would trust China, being that it allows the manufacture of toys, with hazardous chemicals that are shipped around the world, like they are trying to poison the future of it’s competitors.
It will come down to trust! And no Country can be trusted.
Any one with any sense of reality should realize life under a “one world order” will
only be lives of enslavement with no opportunity for individual initiative to better
peoples’ lives!
We all know the US is in-charge. She’s the boss. Accept it or not, it’s the truth. China’s politics of no interference can’t lead the world to achieving any good results. How many Africans or Europeans can speak Chinese anyway. We’ve heard enough of China’s prosperity but little is being said about relieving her people of the daily oppressions they’re subjected to. This isn’t what the world needs.
Death penalties, the apartheid in Tibet, the cyber hackings, dark jails across the various rural areas of China is what China must vividly try their hands on in solving and not leading the world.
We in Africa give the US the full support to lead while we work at resolving our own saga’s.
Back off China.You seriously have a long way to go.
Emmanuel is a wise man we Americans are basically good people but no society led by worthless politicians can be perfect!!!
Both countries are just displaying their sharp teeth but are too afraid to fight because of the risk of getting hurt.
Is about time for other nations to pick sides now if they want to benefit financially out of this so called conflict. Another ‘cold’ war seems to be in the making. They might use proxy parties like USA and Russia did with Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, etc. where in this so Cold war was very much a hot one with people dying.
I cannot understand those that want the U.N. to be the world Government. Isn’t it bad enough they have fatted bureaucrats whose main jobs are stuffing their pockets with money and running around saying “Harrumph-Harrumph”?
If you feel disconnected from your Government now how will you feel being even further from the UN as a Government when they make laws based upon the politically correct flavor of the day and corrupt scientists to back up their idiotic notions?
The U.N. has shown that it is incapable of saving those it is charged with protecting.
It has allowed Hezbollah to amass an enormous weapons cache in Lebanon and is not even close to being an honest broker in any negotiation between parties.
In Haiti relief, if is similarly impotent.
Why does anybody want this as their Government?
Dan is a wise man !!
The war of words between China and Usa reminds me of Saddam Hussein who boasted that the Us wouldn’t and couldn’t budge him from his pedestal but within days he was hiding in a rat hole.
Similarly with China and Iran, they are just trying to flex their muscles while the Us is remaining quiet. Big words won’t lead anywhere.
China hasn’t got any technology proper to itself; everything is a copy of Us technology or Eu ones. They are the first to imitate and plagiarize.
Once the people massively demand for their freedom, the communist leaders will seek rat holes for hiding like Saddam. A few years more and the masses will fix the belligerent leaders.
On the other hand the US has political stability and the economy will surge by next year.
As far as the Un is concerned, it is incapable of resolving minor issues of democracy as in Zimbabwe, Sudan how can it rule the world.
Subra is a wise person!!
If the US is the Worlds formost superpower then I for one am dead happy with the ‘devil’ I know than the one I don’t! People may complain they are the World ‘police’ but I’m real glad we have em’ – but imagine if China was the superpower instead? – We would have been invaded and crushed by now and unable to speak about it.
The difference between them is a modern superpower clashing with an ancient imperialist super-regime – the two will never Gel until China (like Japan did) pulls itself up by the bootstraps into the 21st Centuary….
….it did get a glimpse of modernisation when it took the capitalist glittering fatted-pig of Hong Kong back into its greedy little hands from the UK several decades ago, (when the rent contract ran out!) but the only lesson it’s learned from that was just about money – all other agenda items have been crushed. It will have to buck up it’s ideas before it can sit around a negotiating table equally with everyone else and this it will never do! I believe that it is arrogant enough to write off any debts in favour of crushing the debitors instead. You should not wave WW3 away – its a very real possiblity, War not from the Middle East but from the Far East…
Cabe UK
“A recent poll suggests more than half of Chinese people think they’re heading towards a new Cold War.”
So do the Russians, I guess it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. When the Chinese and Russian leaders, media and teachers continue to tell their people about the “threat” coming from the United States than that will make the people more willing to support anti-American policies which in turn anger the United States causing bad relations after which the leaders, media and teachers can say: “told you so. Those evil Americans hate our guts!”
I do not expect open warfare between the United States and China ever, because they’ve got each other in an economic stranglehold and they both have nuclear weapons. Relations will remain strained though for the foreseeable future. The “victor” will depend on whether or not Europe, Japan and India will sell their souls to China and whether or not China can remain a centralized authoritarian regime long enough. If these conditions are met Chinese hegemony will be assured and the United States will be demoted to being just another major power. However, it seems highly unlikely that Japan would ever sell out to the Chinese and it will be decades before Europe would even consider it. A lot can happen in China (democracy) during those decades, so it’s entirely possible the United States will “win” eventually.
Whoever wins may very well determine what kind of civilization we will spread into space centuries from now.
Re. Arthur Njuguna and Alan Houston Texas
These two have it right, Arthur’s reference to monopoly is so right, us plebs of the world are as insignificant as the quality of the paper on the monopoly board and as dispensable. Even if we had a revolution the Multi Nats would conspire to run it and still come out on top..
If the US is the Worlds foremost Superpower then I for one am dead happy with the ‘devil’ I know than the one I don’t! People may complain they are the World ‘police’ but I’m real glad we have em’ – but imagine if China were the superpower instead? – We would have been invaded and crushed by now and unable to speak about it.
The difference between them both is a modern superpower verses an ancient imperialist super-regime – the two will never Gel until China (like Japan did) pulls itself up by the bootstraps into the 21st Centuary….
….it did get a glimpse of modernisation when it took the capitalist glittering fatted-pig of Hong Kong back to its bosom from the UK several decades ago, but the only lesson it learned from that was just about money – any other learning curves have been quashed. It will have to buck up it’s ideas before it can sit around a negotiating table equally with everyone else and it will never do it ! I believe that it could be confident to the point of arrogant enough to write off any debts in favour of thinking it can crush the debitors instead. You should not wave WW3 away – its a very real possiblity, War not from the Middle East but from the Far East…
Cabe UK
Friendship, in its true sense, is a thing of the past; most of the relationships, these days, are fast becoming a kind of trading-partnerships. Money and Greed factors have started to weigh heavy and play a major role in making or keeping of any friendships. However, be it in friendship or trading, no relationship can be long-lasting without trust and fair-play; nobody should play the ‘boss’. China must learn to be less adamant and more adjusting/accommodating towards others, especially towards its trading partners and neighbors; it must shed its hegemonistic and selfish attitude.
As far as new super power is conceerned, USA is looking at China as the nearest competitor. However, China is still not in position to hold an equal place with USA in world power game. In fact China is till moving with its old culture and tradition which may not be acceptable world wide. Their economic condition is strong bur they are militarily in position to domonate USA. On the other hand USA does posses a dynamic society that can absorb all kind of individuals. Their military is srtonger enough to compete with anyone in the world.
Art of diplomacy of west and china are different. West’s core principle of democracy ifs freedom of expression and human rights,even though western world allowed china to amaze wealth with import of cheap goods from china,china dont think like west. china think otherway around. we are wealthy and hold wealth of other nations in their pocket, so west have to toe the line,if not we dont hesitate to walk away or threaten with action.Thaivan is a democracy unlike china. so west cannot abandon thaiwan , and thaiwan would like to see more democracy in china before eventual merger ,if at all,one would guess. In the final analysis, china should treat Obama as whiter than white and not see him as a pushover because he is mixed coloured.China made a mistake of snubbing Obama at cliamte change conference last dec.it is up to chian to come down and eat humble pie and it is not easy for them. but it helps to be humble.
Maybe I hold a too simplistic view… but why be afraid of China? Ohhh they have an economic upper hand. Well who gave that to them? Greedy companies in the west who want cheap labour to make rubbish to sell to customers in home countries, that’s who.
If the west was really serious about China then manufacturers would go back to home production and cut China out of the loop. We did it before for many years, why can’t we do it again. Then what will China do when their main source of income is gone. Economics work better than guns and bombs can. Besides which we can get back to quality products and fuller employment back home, but business is too addicted to profits to make a serious attempt at this. China can then feed its people with slogans and patriotic songs about the motherland and glorious leaders!
China didn’t take this position in the world, we gave it to them and now we are reaping this capitulation.
In the world outside of the US Conservative strive to retain world dominance based on their outdated interpretation, and European paranoia over China, many feel that the two economies are so intertwined and almost symbiotic that there really is no danger of war or some damaging geopolitical disaster. We are betting however that unless the West reigns in its financial institutions through proper regulation, the next crash, and it will come, will propel China into the position as the world’s largest/strongest economy. We are also betting that this ascension won’t be accompanied by the same imperialistic, and interferring posture taken by succesive US administrations who are now in that position.
WWIII no I don’t think so, just as it would never have happened between the US and Soviet Union, and MAD (mutually assured destruction) still applies, although these days it is economic nukes that are the weapons.
“Friendly” competitors strikes me as an oxymoron, this is cut-throat capitalism at its reddest in tooth and claw.
I do fear a future with China as the dominant force, particularly since the US seems to be falling apart in terms of social cohesion, with the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party squad out to fire bomb any attempt at righting the wrongs that have led to this situation, backed by a retreat into the sort of ‘ol time religion that is just as ranting as anything the ayatollahs have to offer.
Chinese economic dominance would paradoxically play into the hand of the US Right as they would cite the need for competitiveness as an excuse to reduce any kind of welfare benefits, workers’ right etc. and further cut taxes on the rich, then opposing measures of this kind could be touted as “unpatriotic” and, irony of ironies “socialist”.
On second thoughts maybe “friendly” does apply as a sort of unholy alliance of exploiters.
@Linda From Italy
I agree with you that WWIII will not happen between the USA & China for the same reasons it did not happen between the USA & Russia.
In each country were rational people who came to understand that no matter who “won” the planet and all upon it loses.
Without discussing (again) the whys and wherefores that have been rehashed ad-nauseum, I firmly believe that WWII will come out of the Middle East caused by those that have no respect for hum,an life at all.
To me the world seems to be splintering into spheres of influence and control and China is exerting its influence over Asia as Japan has surrendered position of leader in the Far East
Ha! It is America that has the upper hand with this matter of China holding trillions of US currency. China is in a very very weak position. America could do what Germany did after World War I an bring down the value of the dollar. China would be left holding useless paper, its factories would close and millions thrown out of work.
Some who do not know American history nor understand the true spirit of Americans might believe America would not do something so drastic. How wrong they are!!.
Psychologically, the present Communist Chinese leaders are in the same misguided state of mind that Japan’s leaders were in when they decided to attack Pearl Harbor. there are many American who would like to see a showdown so let the Chinese continue with their insults and threats. They might just get the conflict they are hoping for.
Re the Chinese poll, (BTW the link doesn’t work) because the totalitarian Chinese Govt. has so much control over the media, it is not surprising that people have such a distorted view of the world. Their perception that things must come to a warfare footing, hot or cold, is about as daft as the “War on Terror” mind-set, although sadly, those who believe in this don’t have the same excuse, but rather self-select their own censorship by confining themselves to the sort of media with a corporate axe to grind.
The famous importance of “face” in the East and the horror of losing same also accounts for some of the apparently irrational (to us in the West) reactions to anything deemed even the teeniest bit critical – clash of cultures again perhaps.
I have no wish to live in China, nor would I ever dream of living in the US (admittedly the latter is the lesser of two evils). I deplore what the Chinese are up to in Africa and just hope more African people, start to realise how they are being exploited, not least because the “never mind the human rights feel the natural resources” attitude will do nothing to unseat the corrupt gangsters who pass as their leaders as the Chinese line their pockets.
…. because they’re mean and crazy… (“.. why be afraid of China…”) and they don’t practise ‘mercy’ (even on a political level unless it’s for something they want in exchange) – countries like that are in the long term uncontrollable…
As a growing power close to super-power status, China needs to change! It needs to be exemplary. Bullying others into submission will not work.Taiwan is an independent nation and will charter its own course.and has every right to cultivate its own defence partners.Trade will always be a sticking point. China will always be accused of dumping. Until the two big nations are prepared to treat each other as equals animosity will fuel their relations.
Andrew of australia hit the nail on the head. No more cheap goods and illegal chinese workers in the west.West do nonting untill it hit home with avalanges, whether it is pollution or climate change or finacial crisis. Vision and forward planning is the only way to avoild humilation by nations which thrive on dictatorsip and suppression of human rights whether it is china or now emerging pariah states of former democracies who’s citizens whether majorites or minorities are losing faith in democracy and resigned to live under psedo democracies of wanton arrest and killings,even frightend citzens running to jungles to survive utnill the human rights return to the norm of the bygone era.
Hi Linda –
I would agree with you there or at the very least Hope it never ever happens … (re: ….” WWIII no I don’t think so,”…) but like my darling hubby says –
“Its like driving babe, it’s not so much about you driving on the roads – its all the other @*!-wotsits driving about about out there that you have to watch out for ! ”
🙂 All the Best !
We’ve got to get past the idea that “national interests” are anything but resource extraction which has transcended traditional mining, forestry and fishing and now includes exploitation of labor and financial fraud in all its forms; credit card fees, derivatives, futures trading, etc. The US doesn’t sell arms to Taiwan in support of any political principles, and China understands that. The US government paves the way for US companies to manufacture and sell weapons, our tax dollars subsidize weapons manufacturers who profit obscenely by arming Taiwan – who cares what regional destabilization results? – as well as future enemies like Iraq and the Taliban and don’t forget that the US still refuses to sign the land mine treaty; that would be bad for business. China’s theatrical belligerence toward the “breakaway province” Taiwan is only for their domestic consumption, a display of saber-rattling to bolster the notion of Chinese power. Many factories in China are owned by Taiwanese businessmen who enjoy unfettered access to land, labor, materials and transportation. Anything goes for commerce. There are no substantial ideological differences between the governments of China and the US only a weird inverse dynamic: In China, nominal communism applies to the masses to keep them in line while the powerful engage in every form of capitalism while in the US, capitalism is the carrot offered to the masses who, communistically, support the “too big to fail” corporate elite.
it looks like a case of diamond cut diamond
We’re not in the jungle anymore, Toto.
The mechanisms of natural selection aren’t static – they evolve like everything else. If humanity can’t set aside this “Alpha dog” mentality and grasp the concept of interdependence it won’t deserve to survive.
The boss in any relationship tends to be the one holding the purse strings. Since money is the vehicle by which EVERYTHING is done, and China is the largest foreign holder of US national debt, and the US is still in the worst financial crisis since 1930, the power lies with China.
Does anybody really think the US would ever do anything to anger its main creditor? I wonder what would happen to the precarious recovery if China happened to call in a few hundred billion dollars of US debt…..
Who are the bosses and of what are they in control? The most important part of this discussion is its flawed premise that any one nation will be able to effectively dictate the behaviors of the rest of the world. Yes, China is a big country; but observing it is “one sixth of the world population,” ignores the fact there are five sixths of the world’s population that are not Chinese (and many of these folks see the twenty-first as “their century” too. Overlaying all this political flummery are the cold, hard realities that humankind is out-running natural replenishment cycles and exhausting current mineral resources (sea level changes and energy supplies aren’t the most important ones) at an increasing rate. No nation-state has currently a majority of the answers and it is indeed a question whether their combined intellect will find answers sufficient for the twenty-second century.
g
‘Cold War’, is a term for a military standoff. I see nothing military about this. I see economic heads butting. I see ‘rights’ as an excuse. But it is rhetoric on both sides. On any issue, either the top two are working together or butting heads. In this case both sides are to different to work together, so they butt heads. Both sides have far too much to loose to consider military actions.
Boss? There will always be a boss, except you want to rock the boat.
And one thing is also very sure, no one boss reign forever.
US or China, no diffrence to me. They both think of their interest first, then anything.
Objetively Compare them and you will see what I mean that they are the same.
‘Capitalism’ is the worlds boss. And we are all its slaves.
l do not think we will ever get to a point where we can say so and so is the boss. That is because, the world is made up of sovereign countries. Thus China, can not and should not dictate to the US, with regards to who the US president can and can not meet or with which country the US should or should not do business. Both the US and China are involved in all sorts of doddy dealings all over the world. As long as those sovereign countries are willing to do business with either of them, no one should dictate partnerships.
Now if both these countries’ leaders can grow up and sit down and talk like what we all do, then that should keep businesses running properly without the uncertainity that this arguing causes. We are just getting out of recession for crying out loud.
Ultimately you would have to think that the China as it exists now, the regime in power, the leaders and corrupt or inept officials have a limited life. Except that your everyday Chinese is preoccupied with getting rich and obtaining material comfort, such pursuits eventually wear thin and the search for something more, more fulfilling begins.
I can see a time when the pursuit of happiness from money and trinkets will reach a point that it hits its head against the lack of freedom (politics, thought, expression) that exists in China now. I don’t advocate a western style society, that wont work in China, nor is it the model to aspire to, but each person has a basic need to or feel a need to be unhindered by the government in charge.
The historic examples are there and I am sure Hu Jin Tao and his cohorts are aware of this, Romania a stark reminder of a totalitarian regime which the people decided did nothing for them. China will fall that way as the Chinese upper classes will want to go their way and not be obliged to the elite few who control the country. The need for personal freedom eventually overcomes ignorance or loyalty to the group or even the desire not to speak out. It is inevitable. How China will go from there is unknown and what may trigger this equally so, but that day is coming.
I don’t know, the US and China were in a hot war during the Korean war. The chinese invaded Korea knowing that the US had nuclear weapons, didn’t stop them from sending a hundreds of thousands of soldiers across the Yalu river into Korea.
Communist China and the Soviet Union were allies and the Korean War was a Stalin move to press the US along with pressure on the West in Germany.Berlin blockade failed but the Russians were eager to counter the West response to their imperial ambitions.China entered the war after MacArthur defeated the Communist North Korean army after Inchon and pursued them to the Yalu River on the Manchurian border.Russian pilots engaged USAF and the Chinese sent “volunteers” into North Korea ,1 million.troops with no declaration of war Truman refused MacArthur’s request for use of tactical nukes insuring that North Korea would survive to haunt us, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
I’m not at all worried of any wars between china and the us. I’m worried that a country with very little regard to human rights and transparency is on track to becoming a world power, at least economically. Then all the authoritarian regimes in africa will get a big brother to look up to! How sad. Again, am calling for whys to focus the global conversation on africa and 3rd world issues. Is anyone listening?
When one goes back in time of History, it was China that saved Tibet. Tibet does belong to China. China has said often, it will not interfere with the internal affairs of any sovereign nation. During Pres Obama campaign he stated he would respect sovereign nations – has he done that? Course being the leader of arms sale, in selling arms to Taiwan in my opinion, this is a protection fee that Taiwan is paying. Agreements to sell arms was made between China & the US that over a period of time sales would be reduced. Unfortunately, this year it has increased. China should lead in economics because of its huge population and approx 300Million people live above the poverty line and that is attributed to the improvement over the past 60 years. China is increasing its military to protect its own.
@ John,
I agree! We don’t need an Alpha Dog. We need countries that are willing to work together.
The world should be run like a co-op. All the countries, follow the same Economic, Manufacturing, Trade, Citizenship, Human Rights, Educational, Health Care and Political Freedom standards and requirements as the co-op might set up. Work together for world stability where everyone , prospers, excels and benefits from specific standards for living. Make the standards broad well eliminating detrimental activities. Let each country rule the way they desire as long as human rights are not discarded and aggressive military actions become a thing of history.
Yes, I’m just day dreaming!
This whole “Cold War” thing is American paranoia,from the Right Wing Fear Mongers.
China is guilty of holding it’s currency value low;and the USA has become addicted to cheap goods,like a heroin addict(All Hail Walmart!)
So as long as China keeps it’s currency and products dirt cheap,the USA and others will continue to feed their addiction.A drug dealer is not going to hurt his best buyer.
By the way,for those around the world who don’t know;outside of food and weapons and automobiles;not much is made in the USA any more.Labor costs to much.Almost all of our clothes,shoes,toys,electronics,pots&pans are made in China.
How do you have a strong economy if you buy things but don’t “make” things?
I am way more interested in keeping up with the news that is more tangible, like the US intelligence data on Guantanamo in the English courts. Something actually happened and it is not about posturing but real events. The US should not have to be led kicking and screaming out into the light rather than disclose the illegal practice of torture. It should not be making threats to the Brits over functioning justice. China and the US can throw all the theatre they want. China and the US is like Proctor and Gamble or bread and butter. Tied together by the bonds of commerce, all else pales.
No one will rule the world eventually, because, after so much self focus and delusions of chaotic grandeur, the power will turn back to factional government and local controls. Without an economy to support true oversight, there is no way to effectively control anyone or anything. The true power rests in the hands of the people, but, they have allowed themselves to be convinced otherwise by a handful of wealthy power brokers who play countries off of one another, solely for their own perceived gain. How is it that billions of people allow this to continue and bemoan their governments actions when it is they who man the system controls, at the behest of their leaders. Fear seems a likely culprit…….. The discussion is mute, a distraction from simple action. I have no idea what the solution is, but, it has to be simpler than we seem to make it. Why do we need someone else to govern us anyways? Establishing a basic global principle of humanity toward others might be a start, but that may be too liberal for some “iron fisters” and fear mongers.
American government should tell its own citizens why many are out of work – lack of tools? Lack of skills? Lack of vigor? Lack of market? Its policies are getting out of touch of reality since the re-emergence of boss-tweeds to run factories down & to milk vitality of the population after hijacking the government- it should bring the US from the void of extra-terrestrial realms to real life and seek to understand its peoples concerns.
The Chinese government too ought to upgrade itself to the new status that it is increasingly acquiring commerically by geting its citizens out of the suspicious cold war betrayals & sustenance to immaturity.
The same can be said about all the other governments; including mine – procupied with empty rhetoric on things we don’t care about – like finger pointing in the wrong directions in an attempt to coverup any state guilt. World War I & II were accidents that provided enough enlightenment to inform mature management – why should people or nations be antagonizing each other now? Where is the profit?
You cannot idolize arms if you do not idolize creating enemies and disenchantment.
In boxing, it’s called sparring and everyone knows the rules. Possibly China violated the rules by it’s hacking of Google. The world is so computerized these days that a deliberate policy of hacking systems can’t be tolerated. When the opponent in the sparring ring does something blatant like hitting below the belt and obviously trying to hurt his sparring partner, the result is likely to be a real fight, understandably so.
China is trying to blame the U.S. for its own unfair dirty sparring for advantage. Unfortunately, its people have not even the freedom of the internet for balance against such propagandizing towards their own populace.
The U.S., as far as I know, has not threatened to default on its debt to China. If it has, that would also be categorized as hitting below the belt.
It’s very difficult for outsiders to know whether Taiwan and the U.S. fear China will invade it or if China fears the U.S. and Taiwan will invade it.
Let’s hope they’re still only sparring.
Canada
China a a great producer of goods, but until and unless it starts to create and innovate it cannot hope to become a real world power.
The Communist Party’s attempt to control of all aspects of China’s developement is China’s own worst enemy. Corruption is ultimately self-defeating, the manipulation of exchange rates cannot succeed in the long term, and censorship is as futile as a cat trying to cover up its mess on the tiles.
China has tremendous inertia. It has historically tried to take the long view. The momentum of the Information Age will put paid to Chinese inertia, and unless the Chinese leadership actually provides leadership into the new world of information and connectivity, it will be inexorably left behind.
Whatever the transgressions of the USA, the American Dream is that “We’re all in this together.” China still wishes to maintain an unchangeable national identity, while trying to engage with the world at large. China cannot have it both ways. The world will be a much better place when China decides to join the rest of us, instead of trying to still remain an entity apart.
Why would China want to destroy a nation that it owns so much of? And why would the U.S., whose very lifeblood is consumerism! (too bad we didn’t take advantage to alter that during the recession/bailout) Why would America want to fight its far and away greatest supplier.
What we are seeing is the emergence of a new world order and neither side has figured out just how to fit it into a new scheme of things. All posturing.
How could China feel comfortable with allowing freedom of speech when they get this kind of bad press.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20080721gc.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/04/world/worldwatch/entry5061672.shtml
The west use democrasy as a means to maintained their colonial authority. By inciting to divide post colonial nation.
Both (Us and China) governments are not doing what humanity wants-actually people are losing faith in our political processes and international negotiations. People never want War.
Whoever wins the bloody war, it wouldn’t be the justice towards people and the planet. But the fact is that- international vested interests are not acceptable at all in any country’s sovereignty.
The struggle for recognition as postulated by Hegel in prehistoric German is emerging between China and the United States and each of them is trying to flex its economical muscles. China is still residing in a Maoic communist world of economy while the USA find credence in capitalism, so this has resulted in a complete parallel economic ideologies and each of them is trying to out-muscle each other. so one can conclude not considering competition that there is an evolving cold war. The argument of economic competition is defeated on the grounds that no debtor can compete favourably with his creditor so there is a classical case of cold war between China and the United States.
Will the US and China have a war? HAH! If we consider the wars the US has fought since WWII, we’ve never picked a fight with anyone remotely approaching our equal. China has the economy to build a war machine and whatever they might lack in technology, they more than make up for with boots on the ground. And let’s not forget they’ve been building some of our weapons (thanks, Bill Clinton), so technology isn’t a given, either.
All talk of such war is characteristic of the hyperbolic license taken in the blogosphere.
As long as Walmart exists, a cold war between the US and China is not possible.
We need to understand how the world is changing and how each country is linked to each other. Competition is a good thing as a whole and China is just following this trend. This is because as the middle class rise world wide, so does prosperity and peace. Please read “The World is Flat”.
I don’t think that China and US will have a new “cold war”.
I live in Ukraine, which 20 years ago was a part of the former Soviet Union and I clearly remember what caused the “cold war” between the USSR and the USA – Ideology. Those country had diffirent ideology. Moreover, they wanted, at least the USSR, just to destroy America.
Now, China and the USA have almost similar goal – they want to gain leadership in economy. Thus, we gonna name this situation “a competition”, although this competition is very severe.
China is not Communist and never has been . Rather it is a cheap wage work horse for American and European markets .
What is happening now was totally predictable , in that American domination of world economy would come to end as its finance capital and economy go into crisis due to competition and the gravitation to low wage sources of production .
The trouble is that both the bureaucracy in China , along with the financial ruling elites in the USA would rather we keep the same system and just slug it out , to the cost of the worlds vast majority .
Now the media feeds the notion of” who ‘s the boss” , which will only exacerbate the division in peoples minds , rather than ask the question, ” isn’t it time we co operated with one another , removing the mechanisms that drive us apart ”.
Of course China is becoming an economic power, they are willing to trample on basic human rights. It serves as an invitation to foreign companies who want to violate these rights for profitable gains. India herself not excepted.
The succesfull Chinese economic system consist of a ruthless capitalism directed by a harsh dictatorial regime. Even if is the Chinese system provides an economic growth much stronger than the Western system, who wants to sacrifice the Western system with it’s freedom for the dictatorial Chinese system?
When I heard of those confrontational comments from some people, including those from US, I am wondering have they even spent one day in mainland China recently? If not, most of their comments are just based on the Western media, which is not doubt characterized of being biased towards China. Live in China, then comment on China!
@ Steve,
North Korea was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, South Korea by the US the same year. Kim Il Sung was appointed by Stalin in 1948, when North Korea declared its independence from the south. The invasion of South Korea was authorized by Stalin in 1950, and failed due to US intervention. The Chinese were not involved.
The Chinese did come in later, after the the UN first turned the tide. There were a massive number of troops, all ‘volunteers’. There was also a continuous rotation of Chinese pilots volunteering to get combat experience and test the latest aircraft.
Considering the concern the Chinese government has with social control, it is in their interest to keep some dissatisfaction with the US simmering. I doubt there’s much interest at upper levels for escalating into Cold War territory. Just now China is engaged in a huge “soft power” push into America, investing in “Confucian Institute” centers to help direct language and cultural education. With China’s per capita income at something like $3,500, I think their ultimate concerns are domestic.
The US-China rivalry may be manageable for now; but hostilities will increase as soon as the Western conflict with Islamic fundamentalism is resolved.
Remember that just before 9/11; it appeared as though the US was seeking to provoke China through actions such as the Hainan Island Incident.
My guess is that the US “military industrial complex” was worried that the end of the Soviet Union would bring pressure to reduce the huge US defense budget; so a new enemy had to be created.
China was on track to become that enemy until Al-Qaeda intervened; and I predict that they will become the enemy of focus once again some day; just as soon as they are needed to maintain spending levels.
Why are we (USA) selling arms to Taiwan? Do we expect Taiwan to attack China? Do we expect China to attack Taiwan? Do we expect Taiwan to be a surrogate army against North Korea? This is one more example of being stuck in cold war thinking.
At Subra,
having worked in academic settings all i have observed is that we are not getting the best chinese students to come and work for the USA anymore. it is more like the 3rd or 4th tier. the good ones stay at home, since they have the unique oppertunity to creat something big. there is something said about copying technology. just look at japan, they initially copied and are now technology leaders. to assume that china is only copying is likely to backfire. just look at their innovations in terms of cyber attacks etc.
I don’t know if I’d like a world where China was the economic super power, but with the U.S. Leading the way to the previous economic melt down and our over emphasis on consumption, I cant say that my country has done a stellar job in leading the world.
Maybe we should look at it as a sort of capolistic competition, good for buisness, good for ideology. To compete China will need to open up, and the U.S. will have to learn to “suck up” some of it’s prestigious lifestyle.
Hmm, let’s see. China is taking the money it has made from US trade and investing it in clean sustainable energy systems, while the US is investing what is left of our money in more Wars for Oil.
So when the Oil runs out, China will still have the money and be energy self sufficient and the US will have no money left, no sustainable energy systems, and nothing but the exhaust smoke left from burning Oil.
The US is like the people who invested their money in “buggy whips” just before the automobile took over from horse drawn carriages.
Conservatism is going to hurt us Americans really badly, if we don’t put a stop to it.
Is the BBC partial to the west in the discussion? Recently with the issue around the arms sales to Taiwan and the Dalai Lama being visited by US officials, the BBC simply says that China declares that these decisions by the States will sour relations? Surely the Chinese government issues a statement explaining why and so forth? Are they really just wagging their finger at the west saying: “I wouldn´t do that if I was you”?
This is a mighty show off for supremacy..I feel we are missing the point.China is up on her heels and proving a hard nut to crack for America.Most vivid picture here is that when two giants go head on,the people who suffer are us.In anutshell i think china is now the boss and Americ
There’s no question who the boss is. The US is. With all the criticisms against America and their bad sides, many, among them, critics of America, agrees that America has done more to bring stability and order in our world today.
For China to take the place of America in world affairs, it has a lot to do to influence world affairs and to affect humanity in a positive way. They are still far from there. It’s not just a matter of their economic prosperity. The question is how has Chinese Economic growth or political power benefitted the world?
Eliezer
A Nigerian In Kenya
It’s really encouraging to me to hear the intelligent viewpoints expressed by the individuals engaged in this discussion on air and in this email field.
The potential for world chaos exists and the only way that this may be avoided is by the honesty and accountable of individuals for their actions, whoever they are regardless of how powerful or protected they think they are.
Man’s inhumanity to man is the enemy, to emerge as a world of enlightened people dialogue must exist on many levels. It is the intentions of the powerful be they corporate barons or political leaders that needs examination.
For what purpose do these powerful want to rule or dominate – is it for the betterment of those dependent on them or to repress?
The future could be uglier than the past – I trust in the goodness that is inherent in humnakind to triumph and I pray that the pain and suffering of the weak is eradicated – education is the key, compassion and mercy must prevail.
Remember the Golden Rule, the man with the Gold makes the Rules!
China has the gold now and the US does not.
How do you say “No Human Rights” in Mandarin?
Forget this Cold War polemics that compes up after every little disute between the so-called big powers. Who wants the US to be the Sole world leader? After all, it is the US that always claims that coimpetition is healthy, and China is just following this slogan.
China is 4 times larger in population than the US, why so does it not have the right to have a more important economy than the US? We Swiss, at least, are quite happy with our economy, even though we cannot compete with Germany, the US, Japan or otherlarger countries. And sometimes have to accept, that some are better in some trades than we are.
PS: Bythe way, Switzerland has a positive trade balance with China. Just make the right product and the Chinese will buy it.
Cheers,
Richard H.
That one American dude’s idea that the US “has no culture” (or to put it better, has a wholly synthetic culture) says to me he must have been a life-long wealthy suburbanite. The US has a plethora of unique indigenous cultures, some of which are nationwide. If you’ve lived anywhere that near-religious reverence for the pickup truck is prevalent, you’d never say the US doesn’t have a culture. But for all our national wealth, our culture is mostly that of our lower classes. From jazz to NASCAR (well, early NASCAR) it’s always been the marginalized elements that have created the things that America can claim as its own. The wealthy are too busy indulging in everything the world has to offer to bother with making something from the things they have available.
Also, while it may be easier to go from the US to China than vice-versa, characterizing it as easy is also something that speaks of privilege. Immigration to anywhere from anywhere is only easy if you’re rich or have some highly demanded skill.
Richard,
yeah over billion people is a great market for swiss chocolate and swatches…..or could some arms deals also play a minor role?
China is asserting its’ historic role as the hegemon of Asia as Japan did in the earkly 20th century.however, I don’t see a deeping of malovolence but a continued reminder tha that China as Napolian predicted has “Awaken to shake the world” An ancient culture now harnessed to a modern industrial state still controled by autocrats is a potent force as its’ economic competetiveness stems from capitalist use of virtually slave labor.The US in particular has financed the rise of the Giant Dragon by is reckless policies which have led to the current financial crisis.The irony is that Lenin said that the commusts would sell the capitalists the rope to hang themselves but the Chinese went one better and closed the sale with easy credit terms.Chinese in diaspora have been the bankers throughout Asia for generations and they will continue to grow in influence around the world.The US has to understand its’ compettitors and welcome a resugence China which I believe ,will as prosperity grows ,a more liberal society will emerge reflecting the Chinese self interest but it will not be a mirror image of the US democracy or whats left of it. Peking duck not steak and .fries.
Correction:Napoleon.
Every empire hs it´s cycle. The empire of USA is declining and what it is merging is China. History of humanity has been written by this. And in every cibilization this has happened. China has a big population, but it is not the number, but the quality. In more than a billion people, scientists, politicians, enterpreuners, educators and what triggers progress, they have by hundreds and thousands. And they have that obssesion of work. Chinese people are used to work 7 days a week, 365 days a year. A small difference with the obssesion of USA of working less and having more time to spend in frolics and in doing nothing. There are 9 forms of making history. The cycle of USA has been born, grow and die. Naturally it won´t happen suddenly, but the signs are there. Economists may predict the time. But many factors can alter this calculation. Obama is only playing with history.
In one word, WIVES.
Long live free Taiwan!
The US will remain the top dog because it can bark the loudest. With a powerful megaphones like the VOA , CNN and even the BBC they can bark whatever they want . Half truths , innuendos ,propagandas and set their own agendas to make themselves look good. A good example is WHYS . Posting in defense of China never make it pass the moderators . There is an anti China agenda here:
Greetings Manuela Saragosa, a sweet name much heard on BBC’s some financial programme. Peter Day’s ? Wonder ? !
Do grown up nations behave like children ? In innocence or other wise ?
“Am angry with him, so you too NOT speak to him”.
China dear, Ok, the Dalai Lama escaped your clutches. You are more civilized than the Communist Stalin who had his rival Trotsky killed in Soth America.
We appreciate that, but your behaviour on these two matters, Lama and Taiwan, is more than ridiculous, it is comical ?
You Communistic-Capitalist China, be your ancient-civilization age, and not be a childish nation as if you were born after the ”Long March” of Mao tse Tung.
Thanks and Cheers,
The United states will be the boss for the foreseeable future.Its capacity to give diktats though might diminish a few years down the line.It all depends whether Europe and other rising powers have the guts to stand up to US when necessary.
the boss w/a second rate economy, overstressed miliatry where kids commit suicide on monthly basis, dysfunctional public school system, outdated infrastructures, unaffordable health care cost & entitlements(Social security ,Medicare)that will be broken with aging boomer generation & hughe deficit problem.
“Snorri from Iceland
February 11, 2010 at 19:43
Is the BBC partial to the west in the discussion? Recently with the issue around the arms sales to Taiwan and the Dalai Lama being visited by US officials, the BBC simply says that China declares that these decisions by the States will sour relations? Surely the Chinese government issues a statement explaining why and so forth? Are they really just wagging their finger at the west saying: “I wouldn´t do that if I was you”?”
Nope, China pretty much did say “I wouldn´t do that if I were you”, the “explanation” (which they didn’t provide this time, because everyone knows it already) being that they want to add Taiwan to China (even though they know the majority of the Taiwanese population doesn’t want that). On the Dalai Lama they say he is a separatist who wants to make Tibet independent (the Dalai Lama has so far always maintained he just wants more autonomy for Tibet and wouldn’t mind Tibet being a part of a democratic China). It’s the same old rhetoric we’ve been hearing for decades and hasn’t changed since Mao.
The statement about “sour relations” was a poorly concealed threat, nothing more, nothing less.
as per my own view and the view of the LOKALES DASSEL……its GERMANY which is the boss yesterday,today and tomorrow.
THE LAST DAD
If China invades the U.S. that will be fine with me as long as the soldiers that they send over are those hot looking girls pictures on the cover of this page. LOL
No, seriously seems to me China could legally own this country if they play it right and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
Sounds to me like the U.S. might want to get in a cold war so they can worm out of paying China back, I’mean if that is a possibility as you have suggested in your opening statements?
I don’t know seems like the U.S. is running on borrowed time. I just can’t figure out why our politicians are screwing us so bad on stuff, I mean in the end aren’t they going to be just as screwed as Joe Blow American? Do they have some kind of secret plan for saving themselves ir are they just so greedy and power hungry they can see past their pocket books and ego’s? Are they just that dumb? I don’t know I just don’t get it, why are they leading us into the deep end of the pool after making us so dependent that we can’t swim on our own?
I don’t get it and I’m scared and scared for my child.
The consensus for being the ‘boss’ seems to be based on bucks or size of population = Money and headcount alone don’t make a boss! – (All the Swiss banks have all the bucks/ Russia has the headcount yet neither is boss!). I think there is another spanner to throw into the cement and that Attitude and maturity plays a big part in the word “Super” (power!) ! The US is OK = I don’t fight the US – but if China were the boss and it started throwing its weight around then I WOULD fight Them! And that is because…?. they have a cr*p attitude! Their oppressive record on just about everything – human rights, tolerance, basic goodwill to fellow neighbours (let alone their own countrymen) is not just Bad, its Horrendous and strongly indicates they would act the same with the rest of the World whereas America’s behaviour is acceptable. The US is approachable on all manner of things, even things it does not agree with – whereas China’s behaviour would be to bully and crush and would not be tolerated by anyone in the free world for very long. I feel sorry for the Chinese people (except for the one seen wearing the ‘Tibet will always be ours no matter what’ Tee-shirt) but I think the majority are bound to their mass social attitude and those that want freedom Well, their day will be a long time coming.
To think that US/China are squabbling as friendly competitors is imaginary.
These are indeed birth pangs of a US?Sino cold war.
China flexing its muscles…. That is beyond question. I get a feeling its just pushing to see how far it can go with all these strings it finds itself able to pull.
Would it be better for China to be the new global power instead of the US?
The US has its so many failings but It is still better than China in so many areas.
Look at its relationships with countries where they get resources and look at the rights and freedoms of the citizens!
Here is a bit of a thought : I know 2 countries where the Chinese are the majority race and these two banned a religion each. Singapore banned the Jehovah’s Witness. And China banned the Falun Gong. Is USA on record in banning a religion?
Economic success is the expression of societies. Leading is a very difficult position to be in, catching up is a lot easier. China, Japan and other successful oriental societies are very regimented, very hard workers and proud, but heavily conditioned by old social constrains. I have worked and lived in both. They don’t have the creative
streak of America. Time will tell, but until they don’t come up with something as revolutionary as the Internet my bet is on the Old US of A
China cannot afford to go to war with the U.S.
Look at the market in America for all that China Produces.
First thing the Americans can do is welch on all the debt to China.
America just announces, we lose and declare bankruptcy. Take care of us China…it is the responsibility of the victor.
Instead of being in debt, we become broke and start all over, but free of debt.
Tell the other holders of our debt to blame China and ask for their assistance in covering all the losses.
troop
“Poor United States of America needs the money and we should not be unduly emotional about whether or not Taiwan should purchase billion dollars worth of arms from a nation in dire economic straits. Perhaps China should stop being such an irascible harridan and buy arms from the US instead and by so doing help balance up America’s acute trade deficit. People must think more logically and less emotionally. Selling arms to Taiwan is a pragmatic economic move on the part of the US. As for Tibet, it was a tyrannically run inhumane feudal ‘autarky’ and its people religiously suppressed and boys abused. The Dalai Lama (name given by Aljan Khan of the Mongol horde of warriors) is a fake. Tibetan Buddhism is a Hollywood Shangri-la myth. America would lose face if it doesn’t face up to China and China wouldn’t lose face if she were to take everything America does like water off a duck’s back.”
Heh Heh…re: Tibetan Buddhism being a Hollywood ‘fake’ ? – I’m sure Tibet was around longer than ‘Hollywood’?
I also don’t think the US is too bothered whether it has a hot or a cold war with China! There are too many other countries in the world including some of China’s pals, with a stake in America to let anyone – like the Tantrum states of China or the Arabian countries take things a step too far…
Also got to consider that these up’n coming ‘superpowers’ will all follow a very similar path to the US’s in how they get there – in a few years time they themselves will have nuclear fuel problems, controlling a population with a desire for individual freedom and free access to modern techie goods and knowledge etc, etc, so China can’t afford to be that smug!
Well – Good ol’ Dali Lama! – see he’s made the news today with Obama’s visit. The US is doing it all regardless of any debts and China doesn’t seem to have the upper hand at all – in fact it seems on the verge of an apoplexic fit! 😀
thanks it’s good to be in communication again – now that I am clinically stark raving nuts and feel like a long sojurn in a faraway island preferably Jeju Island in Korea would be a welcome and merciful way to move on from the awkward position that I have managed to find myself in.