Q: How should the United States compete with China, and does the defense bill do that effectively?
A:
The US has many advantages over China. The US has more capital than China. The US attracts more talent from the world than China does. As they boast themselves, the US has the best political system in the world and human history.
Before 2008, the US and China were not in a competitive position. The two economies were complementary: made-in-China-consumed-in-USA. Facing the 2008 financial tsunami, China chose to boost its economy and build a high-speed railway network. The US, on the other hand, began its Pivot to Asia, using military power to solve economic problems. The US has not been focused on developing its economy. Instead, it has been doing all it can to suppress China from developing. It turned complementary economies into competitive economies.
If it wants to compete, why not use its advantages of capital, talent, and democracy to compete, but resort to gunboat diplomacy? In 2008, the US was the only superpower in the world, while China’s economy was behind Japan and Germany.
The US has many advantages, among them is military supremacy. The US views its military strength as a hammer, and every problem as nails.
It is not stupid, but the influence of the military-industry complex.
The Pivot to Asia became the Rebalance of Asia-Pacific, and then the Indo-Pacific strategy. At the same time, China surpassed Germany and Japan to step up in the competitive position against the US, just as the US wished for.
Why does the US want to compete with China in military conflict? The US never won a war against Red China, not in the Korean War, not in the Vietnam War, not even in the Chinese Civil War when Red China was only in its embryo stage. The US lost China by supporting Chiang in the Chinese Civil War.
Hostile towards China only makes the US decline. The US won the Second World War because the Communist Party of China supported it. The US won the Cold War because Red China was its ally, or, at least, wouldn’t take sides. The US hegemony has declined since 2009 the Pivot to Asia, the strategy against Red China. The more the US contains China, the faster the US declines. The US waged a trade war against China, and it caused inflation. The US wages a chip war against China, and it is losing its top position in technology. Why? Because the US is exhausting its strength to suppress China and China never yields.
China never wants to challenge the hegemony position of the US. China is only defending its fair interest in the world order the US dominates. It is the US disrupting the de facto world order to suppress China, and in vain.
Do we observe the same history? Do we understand the same history? If a country cannot base its foreign policy on historical experience, its policy will fail.
The US struggles to maintain its hegemony position resorting to its military strength has been causing war, conflict, chaos, instability, and crisis of refugees. Please welcome the rise of China at the expense of the US. China's rise is not resorting to military power, but economic power. China's rise means a more peaceful and prosperous world.
