In the modern age of Trade, Commerce and Internet Trump has successfully engaged in a siege, unparallel in History of Warfare. While Chinese try to wriggle out of Uncle Sam’s clasp, US is in no mood to let go.
While the world may complain about Trump’s policies, the US has seen China as a threat for almost a decade now. Its always been about China’s claim to a Superpower status.
China search for a misplaced lost glory
The Communist Party, in its indoctrination has placed a misplaced sense of lost glory, which has burdened the leadership and masses of the present generation to work hard towards earning it back. The biggest example is Chinese a misplaced historical claim to Silk Road. Silk road was a network within Mongol empire that had among others – subjugated China.
Then again superiority claim of China is not of an intellectual superiority but that of a Feudal mindset where in entire South China sea is Chinese simple because it bears the name of the country and that Chinese now have a blue water navy. In Chinese diplomatic moves, its difficult to find a parity between countries with Chinese always trying to hold a higher hand. Its oldest friendship – that with Islamabad is that of a big brother, with an embedded chill of imperial colonisation.
The String of Pearls
Much before One Belt One Road (OBOR) Chinese started a building military and commercial facilities and relationships along its sea lines of communication, which extend from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan. This in effect encircled India, threatened with possible choke point in Gulf of Eden and Mallaca. The lack of transparency in the deals, integration of Naval assets in Business platform all were seen as seen as a threat. China in its quest of seeking glory, only stressed the point getting ready to be a bully.
While China views her own actions in an entirely different light, as their efforts to strengthen a new maritime Silk Road, it forced all navies of the region to revise their own doctrines and increased cooperation between India, Australia, US and Japan.
Misplaced Chinese Allies
The unconditional support to Islamabad, while it harbours terrorists and religious extremists is problem for the world. While India may has received the brunt of the problem, fact that Osama Bin Laden has a Pak Sanctuary is lost to no one.
China’s Siege by Trump
Trump is right on many accounts. It’s a matter of fact that Chinese did not opened their market to anyone, stole and reverse engineered technology and have actively engaged in industrial espionage. They have aimed warning shots of US assets in international waters and have positioned themselves as an enemy. Trump has successfully hurt Beijing where it hurts most.
As the Chinese face increasing difficulties in US market and their products fill Asian and African markets, the profits start to drop. While it might be a simple job of readjusting production outputs for rest of the world, for China this is much bigger.
Every penny lost is a Chinese worker unemployed. For all its talk of socialism, China has built a massive inequality in their society where the base of pyramid still struggles to make its end meet. The Loss of US market may destabilize China internally.
Trump knows that, Beijing too knows that, it’s a staring match which the side on east of Pacific is slated to lose.
