Xi Jinping’s China is displaying a superpower’s ambition. Only a few years ago, many American observers still hoped that China would reconcile itself to a supporting role in the liberal international order or would pose—at most—a challenge to U.S. influence in the Western Pacific… Now, however, the signs that China is gearing up to contest America’s global leadership are unmistakable, and they are ubiquitous.
China’s foreign minister has defended the country’s combative “wolf warrior” diplomacy, saying the country will stand firm in defending the national interest and combating “smears”. Wang Yi, who is also a State Councillor, also lashed out at attempts to sue China for compensation over the Covid-19 pandemic, telling a press conference on Sunday that the law suits were “blackmail” and “frivolous”.
The United States and China are coming dangerously close to a collision in the South China Sea, a clash that could easily turn rhetoric and threats of a “New Cold War” into actual armed conflict. The sea moves come against the background of a rising war of words, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying over the weekend that, “Some US political forces are taking hostage of China-US relations, attempting to push the ties to the brink of a so-called New Cold War. This is dangerous and will endanger global peace.”
The Chinese Navy is busy building a string of overseas bases, and one of the largest is in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa. The question is, why? Exactly who are they defending against? And why is it a modern-day “Fort Apache” walled fortress, featuring battlements similar to medieval castles, shooting ports and corner towers.
Inside the rarified atmosphere of the Great Hall of the People, the aroma of disinfectant will mingle with a whiff of economic distress. A toxic mix before Premier Li Keqiang gives his annual state-of-the-union-style speech at the National People’s Congress in Beijing later this week. Outside, the air will be virulent as the fallout from the Covid-19 crisis threatens to poison diplomatic relations between China and the world’s leading democracies.
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, in October 1957, Washington finally understood that the Soviet Union was not solely a formidable ideological antagonist but also a technological and military rival… The COVID-19 pandemic may be China’s unlikely Sputnik moment.
Instead of using all the powers of the US federal government to limit the ravages of COVID-19, President Donald Trump’s administration is wasting precious time and energy blaming China for the spread of the virus. Pundits speak of a new cold war. But if the United States really intends to confront China in a struggle for global leadership, Trump is botching it badly.
China’s attempts to project itself as a victim at a time when it is being squarely blamed for infecting the world with the deadly coronavirus won’t work, for while the world might not have come together to fight the pandemic, it has definitely joined hands to take Beijing head-on.
In the less than three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, China has emerged as a key player throughout Central Asia. Yet, despite increasingly prominent political, economic, and security relations, China for most Central Asians remains a little known, poorly understood, and even feared country.
