Brilliant piece. Timely. Caitlin, you made plenty of essential points.
Further to your comments, I'd add that the US is not trying to halt China's rise per se. Washington wishes to control its second biggest creditor by using a raft of passive-aggressive policies.
Washington wants trade with China, but on US terms. Ideally, Washington wants China to further develop the cynical deal of yester-year: leverage the exploitation of Chinese labour for US manufacturing, use trade surpluses with the US to invest in US treasury bills (the geopolitical equivalent of protection money) and incentivise the allocation of favours and graft by Chinese firms to US politicians.
To maintain Chinese vulnerability to US pressure, the US needs China to remain reliant on maritime trade routes. The Belt and Road initiative establishes the physical and financial infrastructure for Eurasian integration. It has a maritime dimension, but will provide land based transportation capacity that would reduce China's exposure to the risk of a naval blockade by the US and its allies.
China is frustrated and unhappy with the US. They would vastly prefer to see the US look after the Rust Belt properly. Beijing is always frightened by protectionism within the US and they are disappointed/amazed at the way that Washington neglects its own people. The new Yellow Peril narrative on offer from sections of the US establishment is a threat to us all, as well as ethically and intellectually bankrupt.
Brilliant piece. Timely. Caitlin, you made plenty of essential points.
Further to your comments, I'd add that the US is not trying to halt China's rise per se. Washington wishes to control its second biggest creditor by using a raft of passive-aggressive policies.
Washington wants trade with China, but on US terms. Ideally, Washington wants China to further develop the cynical deal of yester-year: leverage the exploitation of Chinese labour for US manufacturing, use trade surpluses with the US to invest in US treasury bills (the geopolitical equivalent of protection money) and incentivise the allocation of favours and graft by Chinese firms to US politicians.
To maintain Chinese vulnerability to US pressure, the US needs China to remain reliant on maritime trade routes. The Belt and Road initiative establishes the physical and financial infrastructure for Eurasian integration. It has a maritime dimension, but will provide land based transportation capacity that would reduce China's exposure to the risk of a naval blockade by the US and its allies.
China is frustrated and unhappy with the US. They would vastly prefer to see the US look after the Rust Belt properly. Beijing is always frightened by protectionism within the US and they are disappointed/amazed at the way that Washington neglects its own people. The new Yellow Peril narrative on offer from sections of the US establishment is a threat to us all, as well as ethically and intellectually bankrupt.