Trade war, again? come on!

I first wrote about this topic three months ago saying trade war is merely an excuse which at that time almost none of the local commentators talked about it. They all focused on the what they saw as bullying from the U.S. side on China's export and the right of free trade. I just saw the so-called trade war just a deterrence on China's uprising thus becoming a threat to the U.S. and this view has gained more and more popularity from the local commentators now.

Yet the concern on the trade war is still brewing. People started to understand it actually has nothing to do with trade imbalance between the U.S. and China. It is just about the perceived threat from China by the U.S. and it has always been a U.S. culture to beat the challengers at their infancy and it is just part of the extension of western cowboys' character. There is no right or wrong on this mentality as it depends on one's stance. Obviously and naturally American and Chinese nationals hold different views upon the issue.

In fact it is just quite natural for America to treat China in the way it is now. America just needs an enemy! An enemy that pulls the country together. It is about America's history and its gene. Long before America's independence, the then European migrants fought with the British Empire to get rid of the control from the latter. After its independence, America has a long term plan to replace the Empire to be the number one because the former was still suffered from the global trading system that was established and controlled by the latter. There has been a long time the newly born America was struggling for survival as it was suffocated by such trading system. At that time the U.K. was really an empire, on which the sun never set. With its strong naval force and its cluster of colonies, the U.K. dominated the global trading and the Sterling Pound was the only acceptable currency.

Not until the WWI the young eagle found its opportunity and it was WWII that America finally forged its status of global leader. Prior to that the U.K. has been America's "enemy" for almost two centuries but it was WWII that made America succeeded to replace it. The Kingdom was badly hit during the WWII due to a couple of reasons. Before the WWII the U.K. was benefited from its dominance of the global trading system and earned a huge wealth from it. Manufacturing industries were just too back-breaking comparing to the easy money from trading. Many of the Kingdom's manufacturing function has shifted overseas so when WWII started to damage its homeland the Kingdom just did not has enough manufacturing capacity to cope with the military demand. The America was the only country not affected by the War yet has the ability to provide weapon. As such the Kingdom's wealth was drained much to the America. There was a conspiracy that Hitler was actually financed by the American bankers to defeat the U.K. Be it true or not, the America did replace the Kingdom!

Soon after the WWII, America found its new enemy, the USSR thus leading to the Cold War. With the collapse of the USSR the America virtually has no compatible rival and it enjoyed the dominance on global affairs for decades. Backed with its military superiority and the U.S. dollar empire, the America is literally ruling the world. However the uprising of China changes the scenario a little bit. With Xi's advocate on the Industrial 2025 in high profile, the U.S. just cannot tolerate the challenge from China as it knows well this was the way how it came all the way through to where it is now.

For decades China has practiced Deng's National Policy to develop the nation in low profile but Xi, in order to fortify his status in the Party, changed it somehow. It is yet to say if it is a wise move but judging from the U.S.'s reaction, it is determined to curb this threat. In fact China's recent rise would not has succeeded without the blessing from the U.S. over the past decades. Despite it seems China is getting stronger now and seems to be rich in opportunities over there, it is far too early be capable to piss off the giant yet. China should really learn from the lesson which Japan has had for the price of "Japan can say no". Naturally China is different from Japan whom does not has the last resort that the former has, ie., nuclear weapon and a huge population. Take a look of how troublesome the Europe is with the Syrian refugees. It could bring a big trouble to the world if China release just a fraction of its 1.4 billion population should the U.S. dare to destroy China's economy.

China knows this trump card well when playing with Trump!