As tensions grow with China I’m finding MSM analysis on the subject to be unsatisfactory. In many ways the growth of China has been the story of the twenty first century. With the US now bankrupt (government debt stands at over $28.4 trillion) and the debacle of their withdrawal from Afghanistan trailing in their wake, China is on the verge of emerging as the world’s largest economy. If it isn’t already.
To be brief the West’s history with China has not been a good one. From the 1840s to the 1949 communist revolution, China was dominated and exploited by foreign imperialist powers which is referred to in China as the ‘Century of Humiliation’. Now in the press we are getting increasingly anti-Chinese sentiment.
Following the end of World War Two and the Chinese Revolution of 1949 which put Mao Zedong into power, the West have been publicly anti-communist naturally. However, geo-politically the West needed China to be at odds with the USSR.
Wikipedia
The US fought two key wars following World War Two - Korea and Vietnam. Both can be described as proxy wars against China. The US won neither conflict. Following Mao’s death China began down the road to reintroducing private property relations in its economy under the leadership of Deng Xiao Ping. Official diplomatic relations with China were established by President Carter in 1979, which also saw Beijing introduce the neo-Malthusian one child policy.
Over several decades, the West experienced de-industrialisation as multinationals took the opportunity to take advantage of cheap skilled labour in China. Western multinationals loved the fact that there were no pesky trade unions to maintain minimum wages, limits on working hours and minimum health and safety conditions. Take for example the multinational company Apple.
Meanwhile, whilst the US Empire is worrying about China
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is worrying about keeping its people under control
The Beijing government is always concerned that another Tiananmen Square will erupt and threaten its very existence. In recent years it has been playing the nationalist card for all its worth while building up the armed forces. China now has the biggest navy in the world which the US is very unhappy about. Some of the tech in this military hardware is American in origin but increasingly their superior military technology has been Russian in origin.
The CCP is well advanced in regards to population surveillance technology and the use of social credit scores to control people. For example, if you have a low social credit score your ability to travel on public transport by plane, bus or train is limited or revoked altogether. Free speech is non existent while the Red Fire Wall attempts to cut off the population from the rest of the world.
The party is also contemplating a digital Yuan to help maintain its iron grip over financial markets and social control over a population with increasing expectations of higher living standards.
The Beijing regime, through the Wuhan lab, has obviously worked with Western government's on developing this Corona virus. A virus that was reportedly used on military personnel during an exercise in August 2019. That a lab in China can do research funded by the Pentagon reveals a level of co-operation you won’t get from the press.
China led the world in demonstrating complete societal lockdowns. I would like to know who gave that order and why? Some speculate it was to crush the mass protest movement in Hong Kong.
Protests in Hong Kong before Covid-19
Take these things together - a history of rapprochement, secret meetings. sharing military hardware and exercises, and a raft of measures to control their populations that looks just like any Great Reset globalist agenda. You would be mistaken for thinking we’re friends or is that frenemies?
It’s obvious that the US is tied to China at the hip. China sells US consumers cheap goods while the US prints debt to pay for these goods and services. As it’s largest creditor China wants the US to continue to service its debt which stands at over $1 trillion.
By the time of the Obama regime the US ruling class began to realise that China was beginning to represent an existential threat to its dominance of the global economy. The beginning of QE in 2010 marked the onset of a currency war between them. This was stepped up into a trade war during Trump’s administration, and about which Biden has done nothing. He has maintained the punitive tariffs imposed on Chinese goods by Trump. This has done nothing to stop the US trade deficit with China rising to new historic highs.
These are real world issues as is increased demand from China for commodities like iron, coal and gas and other raw materials which the US feels threatened by. These issues are usually resolved in whatever poor nation provides the raw material. So there is a very real rise in tensions for control of raw materials in different countries. The US set up AFRICACOM to counter China’s massive influence/control over raw materials throughout the continent. It is reminiscent of gangs fighting for control of turf.
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Plus Multinationals (taking advantage of cheap labour)
Each of these interests brings to us a different mindset and approach to relations with China. There are overlapping interests and points of collaboration but there are different agendas here too. Sometimes, the needs of the nation-state are at odds with these interest groups.
Take for example BlackRock, which met the Deputy Head of the equivalent of the SEC (securities and exchange commission) following another IPO cancelled by the Chinese which effectively stole overseas investors money. Now lo and behold BlackRock are shills for China urging investors to triple their holdings;
China’s rapid development is recognized as one of the most important shifts in the global economy. As the world’s second largest economy, China is now a major global player and is on a trajectory to rival the US. BlackRock
George Soros warns that BlackRock investments are a risk to US security
Meanwhile, the Pentagon and the CIA are setting up special China desks to deal with what they frame as the US’s biggest ‘existential’ threat. Obviously with the end of the War on Terror, the military want to focus on the Asia Pivot that began under Obama, and keep their funding levels up.
The next war is not conceived of as a direct military showdown due to the nuclear capabilities of each power. The war being talked of at present revolves around cybersecurity. This is where the military are pitching the danger lies as they characterise a world hostile to the US and thus in need of exorbitant military budgets. Some US Officials have even resigned stating that China is too far ahead in the game of cybersecurity/cyberwarfare. Biden’s budget will include significant funding allocations for this new threat to national security.
However, it should also be acknowledged that the Great Reset crew as led by Klaus Schwab are in the background itching as ever to create some sort of One World Government that would incorporate China presumably? Partners in crime? The Great Reset is concerned with;
You can see how the interests of the CCP and the Davos crew are dovetailed.
The banning of film star Zhao Wei is possibly owed to her links with Jack Ma / Image: Mei Hotchkiss, Twitter
Recently the CCP has been dressing down big tech companies in a wave of shakedowns. Didi, Jack Ma, Ant Group and Alibaba all felt the whip of the CCP on their backs. Jack Ma has had to tone down his celebrity billionaire image while Beijing dealt him a huge blow when it cancelled the IPO for Ant Group. This would have been the largest IPO in history. The CCP regime wants to make sure the growing wealth and power of the billionaire oligarchy is checked so that it cannot become a threat to its continued rule over the country.
The Chinese economy is facing growing problems in its real estate industry, the largest in the world valued at over $62 trillion. The real estate company Evergrande, second largest in China, has been subject to the courts freezing assets and orders to resolve their immense debt, estimated at over $300 billion. This poses a potential headache for European banks exposed to Evergrande. With a third payment deadline approaching for Evergrande, another real estate developer called Modern Land has sought a debt extension. Millions of ordinary Chinese people have heavily invested in real estate. The collapse of this sector would pose a grave threat to the social stability and that of financial markets in China.
There are plenty of other examples of Beijing cracking down on billionaire oligarchs. The food delivery giant Meituan was slapped with an anti-trust fine of $100 million. Also private tutoring was declared to now be not-for-profit.
The entertainment industry has been a particular target for the leadership. Many high profile stars were branded as tainted. They were fined or had their works removed completely. The ongoing headache for the CCP is that huge swathes of youth are organising themselves into fan clubs all outside of the CCP control on social media platforms.
The actions taken by the CCP have been framed as necessary to prevent China going down the road of the USSR in the face of US aggression. Words like “people-centred” and “transformation” evoke the cultural revolution. It’s just words though used for nostalgic propaganda.
Despite all the shakedowns the big companies are still standing. The coffers of the CCP are fuller. It’s not in the CCP’s interests to allow Evergrande to collapse. No, the CCP is fully invested in this “free market” economy. It contains many billionaires amongst its membership.
With such a large population economic growth is essential and growth has been slowing. It has estimated that China needs annual growth of 6-7% just to maintain social stability. Debt both private and public has ballooned over the last decade as well as the creation of an enormous property bubble. The above mentioned Evergrande is like a ticking debt bomb.
The current energy crisis in China has forced factory closures and power outages in homes across many provinces since mid-September with no sight in end. Indeed, coal futures are showing a substantial price increases in coal. Exacerbated by the ban on Australia coal in December 2020. Add in the element of the weather and we have flooding in Shinxi province a major location of coal mines. Several have had to close hampering Beijing’s attempts to stockpile for winter.
The CCP also has a challenge to face from within. Take billionaire celebrity Jack Ma for example, he’s also a party member. Other billionaires him are a growing presence within the CCP which could challenge for leadership down the line.
Unlike in 2008 the Chinese economy won't be the buoy that keeps the world afloat. Just as in the West, the amount of debt in China has ballooned.
Phenomenal debt increases since 2008 - accounting for 40% of the rise in global debt since 2007
An increased demand for Chinese goods was experienced during lockdown and produced a huge demand which was largely met. However, it came at the expense of running down stockpiles. One such area that is proving of high concern to manufacturers in China (and the US) is the availability of semi-conductor chips. Present in everything electrical that accesses the internet, shortages have led to price spikes for many items from cars to computers. Besides this, many industries are hamstrung by the shortage of chips. In the United States Ford and other car manufacturers have had to limit production due to the shortage of chips. Hence used cars have risen greatly in price due to the shortage of new cars coming off the production lines.
The world’s single largest producer of these chips? Taiwan. A massive sore point with the Chinese authorities and this could well be one of those geo-political triggers. Tensions have been rising with Taiwan accusing China of flying sorties in their airspace.
This week the US saw William Shatner blast off into space in a well publicised performance. In the meantime China has been expanding its space programme since it became the third country to send someone into space in 2003. They still have a National Space Administration. Whilst the US has an unaccounted $21 trillion missing from its accounts. Much of which has found itself into private hands developing space jollies for millionaires.
Again, positing both China and Russia as threats the US is seeking to weaponise space. This would be breaking the 1967 Outer Space Treaty but then when has America ever abided by a treaty?. The US Space Force 2022 has requested a budget of $17.4 billion.
Some people don’t want to hear this … but—absolutely—we’re going to fight in space. We’re going to fight from space and we’re going to fight into space…. We will engage terrestrial targets someday—ships, airplanes, land targets—from space.” U.S. Space Command Commander-in-Chief General Joseph W. Ashy
So whilst we can see that there are shared agendas, especially when it comes to population control, there is also an underlying tension between the US and China. What will be the decisive factor? Perhaps we can make an historical comparison to the Punic Wars.
Rome and Carthage existed as Empires until the First Punic War started in 264 BCE. Rome was a militaristic state whilst Carthage was all about the trade. Prior to the outbreak of war there was co-operation and shared agendas. This included military and trade aspects. However within a period of 11 years the relationship turned from allies to all out war. The Romans had a friendly relationship with the Carthaginians until curtailing Carthage’s expanding sphere of influence into Western Europe became a critical priority.
We can see multiple reasons why it would be better for most American interests for a peaceful coexistence with China. Several financial firms like BlackRock and Goldman Sachs are being paid to encourage US investment in China. US manufacturers have a long history of employment in China. Many of these factories/jobs are almost impossible to rebuild in the US in a short period. Semi-conductor factories with skilled staff, for example, can take upwards of a decade to build.
Still, it would be foolish to underestimate the great unease the US feels in regards to the growing economic power of China. The business of China is business . The Beijing regime want peaceful coexistence with the US. Its response to the aggressions of the West has always been quite conciliatory despite broadsides delivered by state media at Washington. Meanwhile, the US engages in a never ending stream of hostile criticism of China accusing it of acts of genocide. There are currently 392 anti-Chinese bills going through the Congress! These range from the Stop China IP Theft Act to Fair Trade With China Enforcement Act.
Whatever the US response to China’s growth will be remains to be seen. An increase in military tensions is not a good thing – remember the Cuban missile crisis nearly resulted in a nuclear showdown. The Twenty-first century is the Chinese century. All welcome our new Chinese overlords!
