With the West in Internal Conflict, Opportunity to Curb American Hegemony

“The West” and “America and the West” are popular terms used in many research papers published in China and in Chinese media when analyzing the international situation at present. Some high-level discussions also take the whole West as one strategic entity. When holding such opinions, however, China may fail to get the full picture of the basic world situation.

After the Cold War and the disappearance of the Western countries’ common enemy, America began its own global expansion and exacerbated its conflict with European countries along its way — notably with the Iraq war. Up until today, many of America’s major allies on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan haven’t been siding with their American buddies wholeheartedly. On the contrary, they’ve been simmering long-term plans to undermine America’s power. When it comes to the issue of Iran, they also have their own plans. After the current financial crisis, which has both exposed their conflicts and pushed them to a higher level, they cannot even reach a common ground concerning issues of neo-liberalism, the shape of capitalism and financial supervision. Moreover, in the recent European debt crisis, it was pretty obvious that America intended to give the Euro a heavy blow. America has been seeking hegemony, and Europe wants to paddle its own canoe; their conflicts are just becoming worse.

The same holds true for Japan and America. Japan has been in a stagnant economy for over two decades, which they take more or less as a gift from America. But sooner or later, the Japanese will get even with the Americans, and Japan’s embarrassing lower-handed position in the Japan-U.S. relationship since World War II will also be overturned. The dispute of the American military bases in Japan once again put Japan in a place of indignity, which has only made the two countries more hostile to each other. Although Japan does not possess the strength to break away from America’s control just yet — and they still need their American friends in many ways — Japan’s desire to stand on its own two feet is getting stronger and stronger. Therefore, the exacerbation of the Japan-U.S. conflict is inevitable.

What we usually say today — that “the Western powers are going separate ways with their own development”— seems inappropriate. To be more precise, “America and other Western powers are going separate ways” might be better-stated. By saying “the Western powers are losing their advantages,” what we mean is first, the decline of American power and second, the decline of European — and in this case, Japanese — power. If Japan and the European countries can get out of America’s shadow, conform to the new world order, strive to maintain independence and keep initiative in their own hands, they may escape the doom of collapse and possibly even gain a higher position in the world competition — especially Europe, for it has a larger potential for further development. But, sadly, the bloated nationalism and the inefficient policy-making mechanism in Europe may cast fog upon the future of solidarity on the continent.

America, of course, still shares an interest with other major Western powers — i.e., working together to maintain their monopoly on capital in the world economy. Such a dominant status, however, is hard to maintain, and the reason lies in the increasing contradictions among the Western countries. If one of them prospers, the others won’t necessarily follow suit; likewise, if one of them falls, it will fall alone. The ties among these countries are by no means strong, and their common interests are only temporary and volatile.

Thus, when studying Western countries, we need to see their differences and take care to analyze the conflicts between one another. If we simply conclude with “the strategic dilemma of the Western countries” in general, we will fail to see the most basic conflict in the present international relations, which is the conflict between the American hegemony and the demand of other anti-hegemony countries to both gain equality and be the master of their own house — in other words, the conflict between America and the rest of the world. The general categorizations “the Western countries vs. the non-West” or “the East vs. the West” are inappropriate. We can’t let those false notions blind our eyes and prevent us from seeing the true essence hiding underneath.

We can make better policies if we can fully grasp the picture of the world situation and the major conflict. Now that the Western countries are at odds, we should take the opportunity to curb the U.S. from undermining the Chinese economy, interfering with China’s politics and cozying up with allies against China. Meanwhile, we need to put a brake on America’s ability to wage wars and harm the world economy, and we should try to change the situation of the USD dominance. Europe is an important source of encouragement for China to realize her international strategic goals and help her to gain a greater influence in the world. It will be the right way to go for China to support Europe to enhance its independence, keep the initiative in its own hands, and help the euro strive for a higher position among the world currency. Yet, we cannot be too optimistic about the belief that America can’t stand to lose their Chinese friend. Indeed, America needs China, but first they will ensure that they have firmly taken control of China before any cooperative relations — which, in most cases, are reached by means of pressure and force — become possible. But with this kind of cooperation, China’s wish of promoting her independence and keeping the initiative in her own hands is not promising. Therefore, if we don’t have any counter-measures against America, cooperation usually just means submission.