US-China relations have appeared relatively stable amid many other global crises, even though economic warfare escalated over the prior year. A Trump-Xi summit produced limited outcomes, including promises for China to buy American soybeans and airplanes, alongside vague commitments to pursue strategic stability. The prior mutual economic aggression nearly triggered an out-of-control global economic crisis and could have accelerated into more violent conflict. The relationship remains unhealthy because the United States oscillates between two approaches that both increase pressures toward conflict: an unsound peace and an unfettered confrontation. The unsound peace is illustrated by the presence of major billionaires in Trump’s entourage, reflecting a transactional posture rather than clear, practical stability measures.
"After all, it took place last year. So many other crises have kicked off in that intervening 13 months that the world's most consequential international relationship now seems like an island of stability in a sea of chaos. But in judging the paltry outcomes of Trump's summit with President Xi Jinpingsome nice words and China's promise to buy American soybeans and airplanesit's worth recalling that US-China conflict almost pushed the world into an out-of-control economic crisis last year."
"And because economic tension has provided cover to a US national security establishment pursuing confrontation with China, mutual economic aggression could have developed fairly rapidly into something more violent. Perhaps, then, it was enough that Trump and Xi agreed to pursue constructive strategic stability without offering much idea of what that would mean in practice. Yet the summit also demonstrated how unhealthy the relationship remains."
"The United States seems to be stuck between two diametrically opposed approaches to China that somehow both manage to exacerbate the pressures driving us toward conflict: unsound peace or unfettered confrontation. The first approach was crassly illustrated by Trump's entourage of billionaires. Among the oligarchs who accompanied Trump on Air Force One were Elon Musk, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, and a dozen of the other richest financi"
#us-china-relations #economic-warfare #national-security-policy #strategic-stability #geopolitical-risk
Read at www.thenation.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]