America’s greatest strength over China which also led its victory in cold war

The economic battle between China and United States was inevitable, it’s the struggle for the world dominance. The rising economy of China pose a great deal of threat to the pentagon, but America still has the upper hand.

To understand the principal advantage America has in the battle we have to understand the cold war.

At the end of the world war 2 the cold war had already begun; the world was divided between the two major powers the Soviet Union and the United States. It was clear that it would not be a conventional war with the two countries fighting directly rather it would be an ideological battle between capitalism and communism.

There are a lot of historians that believe that America didn’t actually won the war, they believe the Soviet Union fell on its own, according to them the time span of the communist regime was rather short lived. No doubt that notion certainly is arguable, but one can not say that America had no role to play at all. The Soviet Union fell, when the rising economy of America and overall general acceptability of United States over Soviet Union internationally made President Mikhail Gorbachev realize that communism cannot beat capitalism.

He started to make changes in the Soviet states, he tried to establish freedom of speech and introduced capitalistic laws to revive the economy of his country, but he was a bit late, soon revolts started to erupt in the Soviet states demanding independence because they believed that the regime in Moscow has failed them as it was clear that the Americas were far ahead in the race.

Americans won the cold war because capitalism was indeed better system than communism, but the American foreign policy is much to be credited. The rise of communism and an autocratic regime was not only a threat to America, but all the Western Europeans. American victory was assured when it established the NATO, an alliance with Western Europe and Turkey which was based on trust because America made these countries realize that as much as Russia was a problem for America it also was a threat to their sovereignty as well. On the other hand, the Soviet alliance with Eastern Europe was mainly based on fear, it was crystal clear to all Soviet Satellite States that Moscow will send troops if any attempt was made to shift sides or even become a neutral country. This notion is heavily backed by the fact that when Soviet Union fell these states joined the NATO alliance and opted capitalistic economic model.

Both of the aspects are equally important in the victory of the United States whether the stunning economic prosperity in America due to fiscal policies set on capitalistic views of economists or a successful diplomatic alliance forged on the foundation of mutual understanding. In the end of the cold war America won because it made the world realize that it is a much better option than Soviet Union as a superpower.

In the struggle against China, America certainly does not have any economic advantage. China may not be a very free market economy as America but its controlled economic system is not proving to be a failure for the Communist Party. And considering the overwhelming population that resides in China almost every research indicates that Chinese economy will cross America in the near future. It has already surpassed America in terms of gross national income and no research says that China’s economic model will ever disappoint the authorities in Beijing.

The Washington is playing the same game it played in the cold war, while it cannot simply sit back and wait for the Chinese economic system to fail and the republic to shatter, as it happened against the Soviet Union, because that seems very unlikely to happen this time, but it can forge alliances on the notion based on fear of the Chinese domination and its autocratic government. Undoubtedly the Chinese government is oppressive in general, but the Chinese people do not seem to be worried about that, because if that was the case the republic would have been weakened from within.

Considering all the facts America is successful in convincing the European Union that the Communist Party of China means no good to them. It’s successful in building the narrative in general public not only in Europe but almost all the world except for those countries which are Chinese allies, which of course are not many in number, and Russia that China is a much worse option than America as a superpower. The recent advancement made by the Washington to add India to its block are also very successful and the idea of ‘QUAD’ as the Asian NATO to limit the Chinese influence is also a well struck initiative, QUAD is a strategic alliance which comprises of India, Japan and Australia.

India stands as the beacon of support from the east for the West, and also as a new factory, American and European companies are slowly transferring their production units from China to India. This gives a great economic advantage to India which is intended by the Western powers. India has a major border dispute with China on the Himalayan strip and is much happy to join the gang and after all India itself has an overwhelming population, one that equalizes china’s and researches indicates that Indian economy will beat the Chinese economy in the longer run.

China’s economy will most surely surpass America’s but America could still contain Chinese influence with alliances and mutual trust in other words majority rule. If majority countries in the United Nations believe that American system of government and economic system is much better than Chinese, they would unite with America to limit Chinese influence, on the bigger picture China will may very easily tackle America but not the American block.

China also understands the need of alliances which are based on mutual trust rather on fear, recently it has ended its border disputes with Bhutan, it has border disputes with more than nine of its neighbors. It has created good ties with Central Asian countries and Pakistan, it is also making better ties with the Iranian block in the Middle East, it is also trying to forge better relations with the pacific countries mainly Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei and the ties between Russia and China are also getting better.

In the above image the countries marked by red color are considered the Chinese block, the countries that are colored blue represent the American block, countries with orange color represent the Russian block, countries with dark red color represent those countries that might join the Chinese block, countries with light blue color represent countries that might join the American block and countries in grey are considered neutral.

Mostly all the countries which are or may enter the Chinese block are economically week, when compared to countries in the American block. But in future if Chinese government try to improve its relations with the European Union and its image internationally, it may be successful in isolating its rival but so far America is doing a better job than China in diplomatic affairs. Even in the neutral countries China is not considered a better alternative to America. China still doesn't understand the crucial role of diplomacy, though it is trying to improve its relations with Pacific countries but is not halting its domination over South China Sea.

While some countries are choosing sides and some just wat to be mare spectators of the potential second cold war, it is clear for American and Chinese leaders rather all the world leaders that for someone to win the race for the superpower someone has to lose