“The USA is facing an existential threat in the form of China, that is much more challenging than the erstwhile Soviet Union.” Explain. UPSC IAS Mains 2021 General Studies (Paper – 2)
The last few decades have seen an exponential rise of China as a competitor of the US on the global stage. In the present scenario, the experts are debating on the cold war conditions prevailing between the two biggest economies of the world (US-China).
After the Second World War, the US faced a challenge from the erstwhile USSR. While today the US is facing the same threat from China, it is not same as the erstwhile USSR:
- In the last few decades China has become the manufacturing hub of the world. Its economy has grown at a rapid pace and forms a special knot in the global supply chain. This is opposed to the USSR, which had a crippled economy and could not compete with the US over the period.
- The Soviet Union and the United States were hardly interdependent either economically or politically. Although there are divergences and disputes, China and the United States are the two largest economies in the world and share a wide range of interests, especially in the economic sphere. To illustrate, the US and China have a trade of over 500 billion with each other.
- Today’s global economy is more integrated as compared to the cold war era. Even after two countries are not on good terms with each other, they are still dependent on each other.
- In the face of internal and external problems, the Soviet Union often repelled, but China has constantly reformed. China outpaced the USSR in governance models and is now challenging the US as a global power.
Given the high degree of interdependence and the prevalence of globalisation, the so called cold war situation between the US and China may not result in a full-fledged war. Nevertheless, both the countries, in particular, and the global community, in general, must strive to keep the conflicts at minimum and avoid any situation that may precipitate into violent clashes.
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