While Ukraine is envisaging a ‘very likely’ invasion BY Russia, and Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific countries are experiencing a dire threat from China’s expansionist drive, it is very arduous to draw a line in defending the US’ hegemony.
In retrospect, since the 1970s, depending on the revolutionary reformations of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, China has been competent to substantiate its economic prowess. It has given rise to a ‘hope’ in Xi Jinping’s TENURE to taste the palatable crown of a world hegemonic role. Though this impetuous economic elevation happened, in contrast, facts exhibit China is still far behind in this race while the US’ maturity of the hegemonic role is well-palpable.
In the race of ‘Hare and Tortoise’, despite the win of Tortoise that makes people believe in his competency, it is rare to discern people petting a tortoise in their homes like rabbits or hares. The US hegemony is worldwide accepted for its outward-looking and transparent structure based on open government, open economic system and transparent administrative procedures and foreign policy.
It is more democratic and people enjoy a total right of participation in the policy formulation that usually attracts other countries to get engaged with it. While the Eastern lion is fully based on a closed governmental system, less participant, less democratic and dubious foreign policy, the Western lion is more open and reliable. The case of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka proved that China is still lacking the competency of gaining others’ fidelity.
The People’s Liberation Army intends to intensify the military capacity and increase the weight of numbers but the USA has diversified financial and technological advantages. Although the PLA is taking different measurements and is in the function of making its armours and warheads intelligent, using modern technology, the USA is far ahead of China. In the South China Sea, the USA is ramping up support for Taiwan that would cause a ticklish defeat for China to the cutting-edge US technology and military advancement.
By far, the USA is the world’s biggest spender on its military. In the 2020 fiscal year, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the US military expenditure is estimated at $778 billion, accounting for 39 percent of global military expenditure, while China’s is estimated at $252 billion securing the second position in this race. A recent study shows, the USA’s military expenditure for the 2021 fiscal year is estimated at $705 billion while China’s is $209 billion.
The Eastern lion, however, has more manpower, ground forces and naval power in numbers but they are extensively lacking cutting-edge intelligent capabilities. Considering the airpower, nuclear warheads and missiles, the USA having the lead in modern information technology is still the nonpareil.
Engaging China in the WTO and abrogating all the trade barriers are deemed remarkable failures of the Bill Clinton government, in the present context. Trump and Biden were astute enough to keep sanctions up in continuity of the trade war since 2018. However, having no suspicion, China’s economy is one of the robust economies in the world. Scholars reckon China will be the world’s largest economy surpassing the USA, by 2029 to 2033.
According to the estimate of the World Bank, in 1960, China’s total GDP was approximately 11 percent of the USA’s, which, in 2019, is surprisingly 67 percent. By 2010, China had become the world’s second-largest economy. IMF data exhibits the US as a persistently unrivalled competitor in the nominal GDP. The USA’s nominal GDP in 2021 is $20.49 trillion while China’s is $13.4 trillion. In PPP estimates, China is securing a potent position in the list.
Despite China’s PPP success and remarkable persuasion of the BRI project in recent years, it could not have attained reliable trust from the others; rather it has given rise to fear and volatility among the correlated countries. The more China’s entrance into the WTO was applauded, the more its BRI and debt trap was criticized. This vague economic politics has been a conundrum for the Asian and other countries after Sri Lanka envisaged a dodgy economic debt trap in the Hambantota port issue. For many scholars, BRI is a new tool of imperialism that will let China lose its acceptance to a considerable extent.
Providing international students with lucrative scholarships and monetary aid is one of the USA’s ideological successes so far. When the meritorious students from the developing countries face a situation of ‘after meat comes mustard,’ their merits get stuck with uncertainty for the future. In this respect, the USA has a long legacy of aiding and gaining the merits of international students. To be said rhetorically, the USA sells arms but buys merit.
A study of the Fulbright Commission shows, beyond scholarships to the internal students, more than 600 American universities offer scholarships to international students that are worth $20,000 or more. According to the OECD, in 2019, the USA has spent more than $612 billion in R&D expenditure while China spent $514 billion. In the 2021 fiscal year, the UAS invested $142.2 billion in Federal R&D insisting on the development of Science, Technology, artificial intelligence, and so on.
Despite both countries’ considerable spending in R&D being neck and neck, the USA’s ideological gain from the scholarship is more robust than any other country. The USA, however, got competent to establish its capitalist reign in the developing countries through the soft power of scholarship to which China is still aspiring.
Since the early phase of organizational emergence in the Western hemisphere during the 19th and 20th centuries, the USA has been the epicentre of all key roles. The significant role of the USA in international organisations had begun to be palpable after the Fourteen Points, an idealist approach of Woodrow Wilson on the framework of bringing peace and organizing international institutions, made in 1918. Even at this contemporary time, the key roles of the US dominance in the UN, World Bank, WTO, WHO, IMF, ILO and many other organisations, was noticed. All are widely known for Americentrism.
China, however, strived to strengthen its influence in global governance through the strategic roles in the BRICS and ADB despite their limited persuasion and the net of regionalism. This Eastern lion is extremely struggling in the race of acquiring sturdy supremacy. The USA, in this case, is incomparably dominating the world.
To conclude, despite China’s shortcomings in these core areas, it is weighed as the most peer competitor to the USA. China is notably appearing as the biggest rival of the USA and giving rise to fear in the minds of American think tanks of losing dominance. The fear of loss seems to be indomitable from several perspectives since the USA, at the same time, is worried about Ukraine and Taiwan (Indo-Pacific). Therefore, China and Russia have been reckoned as the closest likely allies against the USA in the upcoming days.
The potential of the USA in tackling diverse political pressures single-handedly is well-known throughout the world. The only thing that can make the US lose its dominance in the race is its internal turmoil. To this respect, the Capitol Hill issue hinted at the gruesome tiding of a military coup. Who could augur that?
Along with the covid-19 management issue, the internal threat of the right-wing uproar and a national debt of $28.9 trillion, the Biden administration will face a dire mass disquiet about confronting China through the Indo-Pacific Strategy and Russia over the Ukraine issue.
