Who Will Rule Now? China or America?

One of the basic things that senior military commanders are taught is never to fight on two fronts at once.

Adolf Hitler and the Nazis learned this lesson when German forces invaded the Soviet Union, despite being at war in the West. Although the Soviet Union lost 25 million people, the war left the Germans impoverished and paved the way for their defeat.

In the matter of Germany, Nazi ideology and Hitler’s arrogance pushed military tanks toward Moscow, but today, Donald Trump’s political mantra, calling to “make America great again,” and the right-wing belief in American supremacy have forced the country into a meaningless feud with China.

It is not that war is imminent or that China is completely innocent in this whole matter, but that Americans are under pressure for fear they will lose their dominant position in the field of technology, which can be gauged from its ban on Huawei. Thus, the United States is using its diplomatic influence to force its allies to support it to keep itself ahead and China behind in this race.

China, on the other hand, has refused to bow to U.S. pressure and has so far resisted U.S. sanctions in the trade war. But Chinese claims to parts of the South China Sea have sounded alarm bells across the region, causing China to lose friends such as Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines. South Korea and Japan are currently watching China’s moves with renewed vigor, prompting them to reconsider their defense systems.

On the other hand, recent clashes in remote areas, on the rocky border between China and India, have proved that the two countries are ready to go to any length to seize surplus land. Fortunately, Beijing came to its senses, and its leadership realized that it had opened several fronts at the same time, recognizing that the front that was opened with India could be abandoned without further damaging its reputation.

When the Chinese economy led by Deng Xiaoping began to open its doors, the new leadership after Mao realized that the economic and military imbalance between China and the United States was so great that despite Mao’s rhetoric, it could not be fought. Therefore, the long-term strategy was to gain economic power, as this would pave the way for the acquisition of modern military capability.

Until Xi Jinping took over the presidency, China’s basic goals were somewhat moderate, and they were focused on the economy, modern technology, modern weapons and training. But China’s increased naval and air patrols began to test American fleets and aircraft coming ashore.

Now that Trump is president and has exercised power over trade, Xi has stepped in and announced an increase in duties in response to America’s increased tariffs. However, China’s brutal treatment of Uighur Muslims and its crackdown on Hong Kong protesters are helping the United States build an anti-China front.

The spread of the coronavirus from the Chinese city of Wuhan and Beijing’s failure to take preliminary information about the disease seriously have also damaged China’s reputation.

Chinese President Xi’s Belt and Road project is facing delays and costly debt, as well as allegations of corruption by local and Chinese investors. Together, these factors have tarnished China’s image. Xi’s good fortune is that Trump’s behavior has diverted some attention away from this bitter situation and redirected it to Washington.

On the one hand, there have been Western protests against the inhumane detention of nearly 1 million Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang Province, and on the other hand, the Muslim world has been embarrassingly silent. If the same treatment had been meted out to a group of Muslims in the West, I bet there would have been angry protests every day.

But by refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of hard-line Muslim governments in general, and by selling them arms without regard to human rights abuses, most of the West has struck a bargain with China.

If Trump is reelected, we can expect tensions to escalate, which could turn the current cold war into an armed conflict. Trump’s next four years will be too unpleasant to imagine. But even if Joe Biden is elected, he cannot expect a U-turn in the situation. The situation has taken a toll on both countries and it impossible for either to back down.

I often ask English critics of the ban on freedom in Hong Kong to consider how much freedom Hong Kong was allowed when it was a British colony a century ago. The truth is that the worst human rights abuses in the former British colonies have taken place in the recent past, and protests have never been as violent as the ones by angry Hong Kong citizens today against treatment by China.

The general perception in most parts of Europe and the United States is that China’s rise is affecting the natural order of things, but that this perception is being criticized by Western politicians as being racially discriminatory.

Whether one admits it or not, this sentiment is also found among liberal circles of individuals who seem to believe that white people have a God-given right to make decisions. Countries which do not have white populations therefore generally welcome the rise of China.