Xi and Me

I have written before about the contest for world hegemony between the United States and China ... see: China vs. U.S. ... in which I discussed the strategic advantages of each. Since then I have had four more thoughts on this subject:

- One advantage I had given to the U.S. was that it sits between two oceans ... something China could not correct. Well, it seems that it is trying ... with an initiative called the New Silk Road ... see: Building the New Silk Road. I somehow doubt that this opening to China's west will equate to another ocean, hut, at least, China seems to recognize that it does have a geopolitical problem.

- China does have ambitions to make the yuan the basis of international trade ... replacing the U.S. dollar. However, it is clear that China has been recently devaluing the yuan as part of its trade war with the United States ... see: Bloomberg Article. This duplicity does nothing but undermine China's currency ambitions.

- One issue I did not previously address was the language differential between these two countries. The incredibly complicated nature of the Chinese alphabet and spoken language, I believe, gives the strategic nod to English and America. Yes, computer software has ameliorated this edge somewhat, but will never eliminate it.

- Although"diversity" is argued by the liberal left to be a strategic advantage, clearly China is far less diverse than the U.S. ... and seems to deem it a disadvantage as it cleanses itself of dissents. Diversity in America might end up being a plus ... but only after these diverse groups are assimilated ... which may take many years into the future.


These four points seem to shift the strategic advantage of America over China further to the plus side, albeit only slightly.  The real pudding tasting will be in how the current trade skirmish with China turns out. Stay tuned.