But if you look around you, you will see that it is the US that is effectively doing the fighting, and China stands by and benefits from it.
In Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered shelling and Russia is on the verge of war. Port of OdessaSupport for Zelenskiy’s government from the US and its allies while effectively blockading Ukraine lose steam.
As anyone paying attention can see, Russia’s war effort is resilient thanks in large part to China’s strong industrial capabilities and strengthens Moscow, which is comprehensively sanctioned by the US-led alliance. have been mobilized for the purpose. You don’t have to look far to see that support proves essential. trade The trade volume between the two countries reached a record high of $218 billion from January to November 2023, an increase of 26.7% year-on-year. Of these, China’s exports to Russia increased by 50%.
Then America found itself stuck in the Middle East, which it was trying to get out of. Shifting focus to East Asia. Hamas’ attack on Israel in early October drew the United States back. The United States claims it had no other choice. I sincerely support you Democratic brother Israel. Recent calls to defend “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea sound like a compelling case for the United States to take action there.
But there can be no lack of conviction, even consensus, in Washington about luring China into a proxy war and causing its bloody collapse, as happened in the former Soviet Union. It is surprising that something like this did not happen while America itself was embroiled in war after war in Europe and the Middle East.
call it a curse hegemony. The United States has remained the world’s sole superpower for the past several decades, so Washington does not consider eruptions in major parts of the world to be a problem that must be legitimately and responsibly addressed. I can’t afford it. But when you add it all up, Yale historian Paul Kennedy says, imperial overstretch”, the subject of his 1987 book Rise and fall of great powers Examine you.
A grand paradox therefore arises. The US government is acutely aware that “multi-focus” is the worst-case scenario when China is being targeted as a truly important issue. But that seems to be exactly the direction things are going right now.
My concern in this column is the U.S. government’s relentless dependence on China, which could result in escalating conflicts, such as a war over Taiwan in the near future. No matter when. 2027 or 2030Some people are seriously speculating.
Look at the Joe Biden and Xi Jinping summit meeting However, at the games in San Francisco in mid-November, there was no sense that both the US and China wanted to ensure that the strategic competition remained peaceful until the end of the games and that the dispute did not escalate into conflict. I couldn’t go in.
what is happening in Gaza And that Red Sea We are posing a modified version of that possibility. Despite US policy, China is determined not to get drawn into a hot war. Provocation over Taiwan And recently, across the South China Sea PhilippinesAmerica is caught up in a regional hotspot and finds it difficult not to get deep into it, but never mind get out.
With China resolutely distancing itself from geopolitical flashpoints and the prospect of peacefully taking over global hegemony on the horizon, will it spell a doom for the United States to “bleed and collapse”?
Indeed, if Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin are to be believed, this may be off the mark. They said the United States could “chew gum while walking” in simultaneously addressing challenges in Ukraine, the Middle East, and East Asia.
Or, as Biden said in one article, TV interview Asked if the wars in Israel and Ukraine were more than the United States could take on at the same time, he replied, “No. We are the United States of America, by God, not in the world, but in the history of the world.” “We can deal with both of these and still maintain overall international defense,” he added.
These claims certainly give an impressive confidence boost. But then the decision-makers of the great powers of the past, profiled in Professor Kennedy’s book on imperial overextension, did the same thing, before facing a dark reality.
Terry Hsu is the Managing Director of Lulu Derivation Data Ltd, an online publisher and geopolitical think tank based in Hong Kong.
