History witnesses that powerful nations have peacefully competed or indulged in the cold war to attain regional and global domain. Similarly, the rivalry between the US and China is also intensifying based in terms of economic and military power and there is a clear manifestation of emerging the seeds of the cold war between both countries. The US is still the world’s largest economy but now it is undermined by China. In the previous few decades,
The Chinese economy is exponentially growing by its expensive manufacturing infrastructure and rapidly growing technological base. According to economic experts, it is estimated China is the world’s second-largest economy in the world and it may surpass the US by 2028. Sino-American relatives saw a decline during the presidency of Donald Trump in the political and economic domain. The trade war between the two countries intensified in 2018 when President Trump setting trade barriers and tariffs on China. Consequently, the trade war negatively impacted the economies of both countries. It would be pertinent to mention that medical experts confirmed that the COVID-19 virus has originated naturally.
Currently, Joe Biden took oath as a President of America in which he iterated that relations with China will have three aspects- adversarial, competitive and cooperative. Comparatively, President Xi Jinping expounded that country doesn’t want a policy of conflict or confrontation but ties should be fraternal, peaceful and harmonious and a win-win situation. Analytically, the US made India its strategic partner for a reliable counterweight to China and its intention to make India the dominant power of Asia.
China is also leading in investing economic projects with neighbouring countries in which China is the largest investor in Pakistan such as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China’s 15-year $62 billion investment in Pakistan. In return Beijing acquires connection to the Arabia sea, offering a contingency trade route to the risk-prone Malacca strait in Southeast Asia. Additionally, China has signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement on 27 March 2021 which covers a wide variety of economic activity from oil and mining to promoting industrial activity in Iran, as well as transportation and agricultural collaboration.
Therefore, for the US to compete with China in manufacturing and technology it will have to invest in the supply chain and ecosystem as well as automation while in defence equipment China is trying to build solid manufacturing infrastructure and has made struggles to close to the US or other European countries but it takes few years to get better technology in defence equipment. Indubitably, scientific and technological unfolding in the US, China, Western Europe and other developed countries is another element driving the global transformation over and above the growing Sino-US rivalry, for instance, development in the cutting edge, semiconductor, data, 5G Mobile networks, Internet standards, Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing particularly it will help determine not only country or countries have the military edge but also a more dynamic economy.
It can be concluded from the aforementioned discussion that China is on right track for replacing global dominancy and also wants to perpetuate peace and harmony and avoid the policy of conflict.
BILAWAL ALI
Sindh
