China bracing for superpower status
“The international community has recognized that no country is superior to others, no model of governance is universal, and no single country should dictate the international order,” wrote Chinese President Xi Jinping in an op-ed published in Chinese and Russian media as he visited Moscow. It was a clear manifesto on how China, the rising power of our times, views the world. At the center of the manifesto is the challenging of US hegemony and the creation of a global alliance that will act as the rival pole in the nascent geopolitical landscape.
Washington has long tried to warn – and even threaten – China that offering military assistance to Russia in its war in Ukraine would mean serious consequences. Like Vladimir Putin before him, Xi has strongly demonstrated that he ignores the US and that he will not bow to pressure from Washington.
A good question would be: How did we get here? Interestingly, China became what it is today thanks to the greed of American capitalism. US companies moved their production to China driven by lower costs. They sometimes also relocated their technology, treating China as nothing but a vast market. Back then, globalization was only seen as an opportunity. Now Washington appears concerned about how dependent it grew on China and has launched a very concerted process of deglobalization, reshoring production back to the US.
For the first time in its history, China is eyeing global hegemon status. It wants to lead a global alliance that will challenge America’s superpower – and it is basically unchallenged in that. The war in Ukraine showed that the feeling of unity and solidarity in the West is strong, but the chasm separating the West from the non-Western world is abysmal. China is seizing the opportunity, showing strategic patience and the self-confidence of an emerging superpower.
The world is changing. We can feel this in our bones but we cannot tell what the future will bring. The developments on two fronts will decide the pace of change. A crucial question is whether Europe will remain loyal to the US within the suffocating context of a new cold war. That would practically bring Europe before a painful dilemma: namely, having to choose between the economic benefits of cooperating with China and the strategic relationship with the US.
The second front is even more crucial. It concerns domestic developments in the US: where the political system is mostly a stranger to consensus, barring the policy on China; where polarization is intense and institutions are in crisis; where the next presidential election, scheduled for 2024, will once again be extremely crucial for the future of America, as well as the rest of the West.
