INTRODUCTION
In some past years, the intensive tensions has increased between the US-China conflict, which result in declaration from people as a “New Cold War.” The ideological and military standoff between the US and the Soviet Union during the 20th century is so different, the US-China conflict have different aspects, which includes trading, technology, geopolitical strategies, and military influence. Both superpowers are competing each other only for global dominance, which is leaving a negative impacts on international relations, the global economy, and the future of technological advancements.
The Basis of the Rivalry
The base of the current US-China conflicts lie in their varying political ideologies and economic desires. The US, known as a champion of liberal democracy, often criticizes China’s authoritarian governance and human rights practices, including issues such as the bad treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the compression of freedoms in Hong Kong. On the other side, China sees the US as blockade to its rise and a threat to its territorial integrity, major focusing on Taiwan and the South China Sea.
China’s rapid increase in economic growth has nominated them as the world’s second largest economy, which has threaten the US-led global order. China improved its technology signals, took initiatives like Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), its goal to reshape the global economic landscape. These changes threatens the US’s decades-long dominance, making friction that runs their rivalry.
Economic and Trade Wars
The war of trade, started under the Trump administration, sets a remarkable escalation in US-China conflict. The introduction of tariffs on goods that worth hundreds of billions of dollars disturbing trade globally and effecting relations. Whereas the administration of Biden has taken a multiple approaches, but still trade conflict remains same.
Trade war battle effects badly technological dominance. The US has restricted Chinese tech giants like Huawei, due to security concerns, while China wants to reduce its reliability on American technologies by upgrading its electronic components and AI industries. The separation of technology between these two countries may lead to division of global technology.
Military and Geopolitical Competition
The US-China conflict is not limited to economics; it spreads to the military and geopolitical domains also. The South China Sea has taking attention now. China is constructing artificial islands and military in the region which challenge international norms, as the result, the US introduced independence for navigation operations to declare its stance.
Taiwan persist a mainly provocative issue. China perceives the autonomous island as a separate province, but the US supports Taiwan’s defense by arms sales and diplomatic support. This conflict may lead to serious risk for region’s stability and can make pandemic globally.
Ahead of Asia, the two nations wants their dominance across Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. China’s BRI has gained significant economic and political advantages in developing countries, while the US reacted through treaties like the Quad and AUKUS, trying to save its strategic dominance.
Impact of Technology in the Cold War
In this era, technology is the battlefield of the new Cold War. China’s improvement in AI, 5G, and quantum computing have raised threats in Washington. The US blames China for stealing rational property and surveillance, while China claims that the US is increasing its growth by deceptive tactics.
The competition between US-China is not only limited to world, now it extends to space exploration as well. This space race between both countries leads to investing so much on this new approach.
Global Implications
The US-China conflict’s impact has spread across the world. As a result, other countries, throughout the world are often forced to choose one side, which impacts the trade policies, diplomatic relations, and technological collaborations of both countries. These may create inefficiencies for technology ecosystem.
The developing nations often needs to face challenges and opportunities. While China helps other countries for their infrastructure and economic growth by providing them a funds, but these reliance on China’s funds can lead those countries to debt dependency. Similarly, healthy relations with the US provide security and trade benefits but at the same time, those countries can risk their relations with China, as China is a key economic player.
Is Cooperation Still Possible?
US and China have so many differences but along this, both countries have opportunity to cooperate for mutual interest, such as tackling climate change and improve global health crises. These collaborative efforts in these areas may improve their relations. However, lack of trust and competing interests often dominate these opportunities.
The Biden administration has trying to form “guardrails” to avoid the rivalry from spreading into open conflict, while China wants the mutual respect and non-involvement of others. Whether these efforts to reduce tensions between countries are still unresolved.
Conclusion
The US-China relationship is one of the most attention seeking issue. This rivalry often leads to a new Cold war, covering multiple areas, from trade to technology which threatens global stability, it also provide opportunities to other nations to set their powers. The future of US-China relations depends on how they manage their differences, prevent conflicts, and seek for common aspect to address global challenges.
