Uncle Sam vs the Dragon

17 February 2010

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The growing rift between the United States and China has chilling similarities to America’s old rivalry with the Soviet Union, says Daniel W. Drezner

When Barack Obama burst into the room to disrupt China’s meeting with its fellow climate change sceptics at the Copen-hagen summit, it was clear that something was not right in the relationship between the two countries. The American president had made his way past reporters, with a face like thunder, and shouted at his Chinese counterpart, ‘Mr Premier, are you ready for me?’ Wen Jiabao was not; and according to numerous press reports, Mr Obama was berated by a mid-ranking Chinese official for his rudeness. It was obvious to all present that the relative amicability that had defined Sino-American relations for most of last year was over.

Just a few months earlier, they seemed to be getting along famously. Hillary Clinton had been sent to China to thank them for buying so much American debt and to ask them to buy some more. White House staff were working well with their Beijing counterparts, and even military-to-military contacts had been rekindled. Pundits in Washington began to debate the prospect of a new ‘G-2’ alliance with Beijing to solve matters of global import. Sino-American relations seemed to be on the mend.

It didn’t last long. The relationship has worsened — and with ominous implications. For example, after Google announced its intention to withdraw from China after cyber-attacks on its Gmail service, Mrs Clinton gave a speech on internet freedom and alluded to China’s efforts to censor the web. China reacted vehemently, accusing the US of seeking to perpetuate its ‘information hegemony’. When Washington sought an additional round of United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran’s nuclear programme, China acted as the brake.

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anyfool

February 19th, 2010 8:14pm Report this comment

China might be the holder of massive amounts of dollars but if they try to dump them who will buy and at what price. it might devastate the US economy but the US would recover long before the chinese if the chinese ever recovered as their time as the workshop of the world is starting to come to an end as other nations are starting to make the same low tech stuff cheaper. the higher tech goods that they make will soon start to be challenged in the courts as patent and copyright cases mount, they make stuff but do not create stuff and that is their really big problem even bigger than the fact that they imprison or execute anyone who shows original or inventive thinking as there fear that more than loss of trade or wealth

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