Between China and the US. Conflict or Confrontation?

China –in all modesty- still registers itself at the World Trade Organization as a developing country, despite President Trump’s objection to this and his insistence that it should be registered as a developed country. By registering itself in this capacity, China uses the advantages WTO offers to developing countries. China has already set a condition before joining the WTO, that it must retain the developing country status so that it can amend its laws, conditions and structure, and that its currency remains independent of the US dollar.
In the course of time, China has grown into a major power competing with the US, with its 35% contribution to the world’s GDP against a declining 17% contribution on the part of the US. The American economy is expected within two years to equal just one-third of the size of the Chinese economy. It may be worth noting that the Chinese population is fivefold greater than the US population. The human factor is indispensable for economic growth, especially in the age of knowledge overflowing on Earth in such unparalleled abundance.
The US administration officials consider China’s economic and technological growth a threat to the US national security. They express concerns over the rising power of China, its massive and rapid economic growth, and the gap getting wider between China and the US. This looks like a forewarning of war between the two countries. The US would not just abandon its status as a major power to pave the way for its Chinese rival. It lives under an ongoing sense of insecurity and must take certain measures to mitigate China’s accelerating growth and abort its dream of ruling the world.

The US started its sanctions maneuvers against China, based on individual decisions rather than laws to provoke China, especially when the latter declared: “We are not ready to change our system to be part of the international system shaped by the US”! The US started its war by imposing trade sanctions that did not succeed in provoking China. The US maneuvers escalated to economic sanctions and the conflicting trade policies known as the trade war. The US went on, but it could not stop China. The trade or economic maneuvers evolved into a cold wa”, which forced China to declare several times that “the US must change its system of rule because it is dictatorial, despotic, and domineering”.
A cold war has its numerous weapons and instruments without involving parties into an attritional, military conflict. Each of the conflicting parties uses another country as a proxy in the cold war, like the US’s wanton meddling in Hong Kong. China is practicing strict self-control and showing no sign of objection, yet it calls for what the US has called for before, “The situation in Hong Kong is a threat to national security” and has issued a law to govern security matters. This is the well-known proxy war policy, usually resorted to in cold wars. It is where the conflicting parties use all the weapons not used in traditional warfare, like psychological wars, warmongering rhetoric, and the like.
Meanwhile, many issues affect the American spirit compared to China, which is investing in the World nonstop. Now, “the hot war” is almost triggered, which will make the situation far worse. According to reports prepared by international organizations, an amount of $20-30 trillion dollars are required for reconstruction of the World, especially the Arab Region, which is the most devastated and affected in the World. The intense conflict in the South China Sea can be a tool for kindling the war. Analysts have anticipated the eruption of war and now the World is facing an exceptional economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All this, as well as other factors, will soon lead to transformation of the world’s leadership, economic powers, and political allies.

Everyone on this planet will be affected by this change and the American citizen will incur the greatest losses. The death toll will rise and a profound change will occur in the nature and psychology of people, including what they can own or control from this year onward. This outcome will inevitably follow from the current international system that is characterized by cruelty, selfishness, and vulnerability. What will the human of this era look like? He will be a human whose health has been endangered, who has been severed from the world, a cynic and with someone with a shattered education. This crisis is expected to entail a frightening number of unemployed people.
The world is boiling under the pandemic crisis, imminent wars, and other troubles that will take unemployment to no less than 20%. Apart from all else, unemployment remains the most prioritized issue in crisis recovery plans. The solution for this problem is based on building a human being capable of coping with the digital age that is up-and-coming. The world will witness more profound differences among societies. There will be revolutions, social disruptions, general dissatisfaction and general mayhem to overcome.

We have a harsh world to deal with. The big players must say yes to a strategic meeting, a new system, new policies, and plans including laying the foundations for reconstruction. Unless we succeed in this, in no short time we will be facing a lot of trouble.