The US strategy to contain China is not working as planned!

By Joel Wong, Chief Editor, Ding Ding TV

Ever since WWII, the US has been the hegemony of our world – the only game in town. It has taken its role as the beacon of democracy very seriously and has assumed the role of “policeman” of our world. More importantly, since the founding of our country, we have engaged in wars in all but a dozen years.

In previous serious global challenges, the US was successful in winning the cold war against the former Soviet Union, subdued the ascendance of Japan through the Plaza Accord agreement that has lead to Japan’s “Lost Decades” of sluggish growth and deflation. In the dawn of the new millenium, while the US was preoccupied with the Middle East, China has been busy building its manufacturing bases, its infrastructures and technology R&D, the Belt and Road Initiatives, the BRICS partnerships, SCO and other initiatives.

Using the same play book to preserve hegemony, the US has been trying to impede China’s progress using trade tariffs, technological and economic sanctions. However, China has proven to be a tougher competitor than either the former USSR or Japan.

To wit:

• China developed its own space station after being blocked from participating in the International Space Station.
• China developed BeiDou, a GPS competitor that has more extensive coverage of remote areas, deserts, and oceans.
• The US initiated a trade war with China and threatened decoupling which is now newly re-defined as de-risking.
• The US with its allies has restricted China from buying the latest computer chips and obtaining the latest technologies but China is fighting back.
• Although China is still years behind, the recent Kirin 9000 chips developed by Huawei allow it to make 5G phones, thus negating some effects of the chips sanction.
• By not buying and making its own (less-than-state-of-the-art) chips, China has hurt American chip suppliers and manufacturers financially.
• China has restricted the export of rare metals gallium and germanium which are essential ingredients of chips.
• Lately China has prohibited government employees from using iPhones leading Apple to possibly lose 19% of its world wide business.
• China’s BRI, BRICS, SCO, AIIB initiatives have proven to be tough competitors to US led initiatives.

Although the US is still far ahead of China in many technological and financial areas, the above are examples that China is a much more formidable competitor. As Chinese Americans we can only hope that the present adversarial situation would improve and both countries realize that a win-win solution is a much better choice.

Our world needs peaceful solutions!