Regina-Lee Dowden Syracuse United States of Ame
End of Brew, Cup of War: China Control
The entire world has been smelling the coffee that is the threat of war and economic crash for quite some time. On the forefront, the greatest geopolitical threat is in the face of the United States, and China is the other face staring. Not too long ago President Trump affirmed trade agreements with the communist country but following the coronavirus pandemic, the only thing affirmed was China's desire to sustain its iron curtain and further withhold any information that could affect its dominance. China is not free from threat however. The real consequences of covid-19 lie in trade and world organization.
China, a headstone in the global supply chain will experience such a compelling shift, its recipient's (the rest of the world) are prone to the most terrible type of economic loss. And when it is time for compensation, China will not give pay outs easily or even at all. This means many cases of armed conflict are in the cup of brewing tension. The next move for many nations, including China will be the move that either starts or contributes on the sidelines to a cold war, serving every country the consequence of downturn.
The virus outbreak is not the beginning of the US versus China contention nor is it the reason western countries are exploring different facilities of trade outside the Chinese chain, but the pandemic certainly proved just how solid China's curtain is and how the global shift may change things forever. After Xi Jinping became President, he declared the Made In China 2025 part of the country's sustained attempt to remain a manufacturing powerhouse, a super-knowledge nation and global military; a move that can and perhaps will entirely displace the United States.
Beyond the curtain also lies China's aggressive dominance over the South China Sea, Senkaku and Doklam, a Bhutan-China disputed place since 2017. Same year, Trump announced China as its most critical competitor. Since then, what seemed like a trade war, never really was, but rather, a fight to dominance and military space and acquisition. The United states banned Huawei and in doing so influenced its allies to also cut the Chinese 5G network dominance.
So what will be the war amidst the infection rates of covid-19 and 5G tower anti-rallies? It will be cold dominance. It will be China battling for technological and economic supremacy and the US doing the same with its democracy allies. The virus is both a crutch and a circumvention for the mighty nations to decide their own narrative. China’s narrative is this: continue its severe military moves disguised as nationalism and be ready to battle any opposed nation that threatens that. The United States does not seem to have any particular narrative. That can be a threat itself. And fuller cups of conflict regarding the rest of the world.
