The US and China: Cordiality with Bared Teeth
Published in der Standard
(Austria) on 15 February 2012
by Christoph Prantner (link to original)
(Austria) on 15 February 2012
by Christoph Prantner (link to original)
Translated from
by Ron Argentati.
Edited by Janie Boschma.
The rivalry between China and the United States remains virulent.
Those attending the Munich Security Conference had long since unanimously agreed with the irrepressible Henry Kissinger when he growled into the microphone that the relationship between China and the United States would not develop into another cold war. Both powers were far too mutually interdependent, and the world's economy had meanwhile become globalized. Neither Washington nor Peking had any interest in allowing differences between them to escalate. This point is reinforced by the Chinese National Bank's $2 trillion investment in U.S. securities.
The rivalry between the two nations remains nonetheless virulent. With that in mind, the two nations whose mutual relationship will define the 21st century will come face to face when Xi Jinping and Barack Obama meet in Washington, smiling cordially with bared teeth. Neither man trusts the other, but both have to find a way to coexist, at least temporarily.
Australia's Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, predicts that China will displace the United States economically by 2020, and by 2025 will have the world's most powerful military. Then the world will be without leadership by a democratic power for the first time in decades and without leadership by a Western nation for the first time in centuries. What that will mean to everyone involved – including both China and the United States – remains unclear. And because of that, they will smile cordially in Washington for now, even if the occasional harsh word is uttered.
Those attending the Munich Security Conference had long since unanimously agreed with the irrepressible Henry Kissinger when he growled into the microphone that the relationship between China and the United States would not develop into another cold war. Both powers were far too mutually interdependent, and the world's economy had meanwhile become globalized. Neither Washington nor Peking had any interest in allowing differences between them to escalate. This point is reinforced by the Chinese National Bank's $2 trillion investment in U.S. securities.
The rivalry between the two nations remains nonetheless virulent. With that in mind, the two nations whose mutual relationship will define the 21st century will come face to face when Xi Jinping and Barack Obama meet in Washington, smiling cordially with bared teeth. Neither man trusts the other, but both have to find a way to coexist, at least temporarily.
Australia's Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, predicts that China will displace the United States economically by 2020, and by 2025 will have the world's most powerful military. Then the world will be without leadership by a democratic power for the first time in decades and without leadership by a Western nation for the first time in centuries. What that will mean to everyone involved – including both China and the United States – remains unclear. And because of that, they will smile cordially in Washington for now, even if the occasional harsh word is uttered.
The US is suffering from the threat of threatlessness. It desperately needs a new Cold War. How else can it justify spending almost a trillion dollars a year on militarism? And since arms sales are what’s keeping the economy running (such as it is), it cannot afford peace.
As for China, which will have to open up a bit more for the sake of capitalist advantages, a Cold War might also prove useful in the long run — i.e., scaremongering could come to replace a lot of good old-fashioned communist oppression. Just look at how well it works for the US: it shifted public support for the Iraq invasion from negative to positive numbers. And it will do the same for the upcoming attack on Iran.
In sum, Cold Wars are indispensable to militarized states and those who want an excuse to militarize.