Xi Jinping is preparing to take on Donald Trump head-on – and there will only be one winner Simon Tisdale
HIn an old courthouse in front of the cameras in Sharm el-Sheikh last week, Donald Trump, the alleged savior of the Gaza Strip, praised his “strong” cronies — tame dictators, such as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who helped fabricate the fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
However, later this month, the American Pharoah President is set to face a far less desirable strongman: the leader of China, Xi Jinping. Bookmakers may withhold odds on the outcome. In the race between the United States and China for supremacy in the 21st century, Xi is moving forward quickly, helped by Trump’s many mistakes.
It is astonishing that the debate still rages, in the UK and the US, about the nature and aims of China’s expansionist regime. Its aggressive construction of its economic empire globally, its suppression of basic rights in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Tibet, its regional gun threat, and its ubiquitous cyberespionage allow only one conclusion.
Even when British MPs were debating whether Beijing was an enemy or an investment opportunity, Xi was providing an unequivocal answer. China’s greatly expanded global export restrictions on rare earth metals and magnets, over which it exercises a near monopoly, constitute a deliberately destructive act by a hostile power.
These materials are necessary for manufacturing Most electronic devicesIncluding phones and cars. The security implications are worrying. Rare earth products are used in cruise missiles, fighter aircraft, nuclear submarines, drones and other modern weapons systems. The new Chinese rules will prohibit their use for any military purpose. Governments are scrambling to find alternative supplies. This siege If applied next monthIt would potentially jeopardize Western arms supplies to Ukraine and defenses against Beijing’s ally, Russia.
China also intends to control the use of these materials through… Overseas manufacturers And supply chains. The United States has asserted similar extraterritorial jurisdiction since 1959. Now Beijing is playing its own tyrannical game with Washington – weaponizing trade for political purposes. Trump blew a fuse when these measures were announced, threatening to impose 100% tariffs and cancel his scheduled meeting with Xi. Amid the panic in the market, he retreated. But tit-for-tat trade sanctions persist, raising fears of a global economic downturn.
As usual, Trump has no plan, and no idea what he is doing. Nothing like that. He explains that if Trump insists on an all-out trade war, It will go toe to toe With the White House windbag. Rare earth dictates could be a negotiation tactic, or a side product of the Chinese Communist Party’s political maneuverings. But maybe that’s wishful thinking. Analysts detect a fundamental shift. After initially biding his time, Shi decided to leave In attack.
What is the reason for this transformation? It is the realization in Beijing that Trump’s reckless “America First” policies are alienating old and new friends alike, creating a vacuum that he can fill. The United States’ global influence and influence is declining, reflected in broken alliances in Europe and Asia, weakness in the face of authoritarian regimes in Russia and Israel, the virtual elimination of American foreign aid and soft power reach, and disdain for the United Nations and the rules-based international order.
China is looking at an open target. The hawkish Xi plays Trump: it’s an embarrassing mismatch. Yet the slower-witted in Washington still don’t get it. “The president of the United States has a lot more cards than the People’s Republic of China,” J.D. Vance said last week. It would be beneficial to play vice president in poker.
Does Vance realize, for example, that – quote Center for Strategic and International Studies – “China [with unlimited access to rare minerals] Is the United States rapidly expanding its munitions manufacturing capacity and acquiring advanced weapons platforms at an estimated five to six times faster rate than the United States? Does Vance realize that the U.S Losing the tariff battle started? James Palmer noted in Foreign Policy magazine, “Since Trump launched the trade war this year, Chinese exporters have had great success in finding new markets. Last month, China’s exports to the United States fell year-on-year by 27%, but exports as a whole remained high by 8.3%.”
In contrast, American farmers lost their important market for soybeans in China to Brazilian producers, perhaps forever. As the holiday season approaches, American consumers face higher prices. Most toys and up to 90% of Christmas goods sold in the United States are made in china.
As the United States withdraws, Xi Jinping steps forward, determined to make China the pole star of a renewed, multipolar world. Recent summits hosted by China, attended by authoritarian leaders in Russia, India, North Korea, and Iran, have highlighted the process of reshaping the global order in China’s image, under Chinese tutelage. Beijing is expanding its influence across the BRICS group of developing countries, by strengthening the much-distorted UN system, and by creating new institutional frameworks to appeal to the Global South. With Trump raising tariffs on most parts of the world, China has moved to manufacture African imports duty free. While Trump cuts foreign aid, Beijing continues its “Global Development Initiative.” While Trump threatens to attack neighboring countries such as Venezuela, Xi promotes his policies.Global Security InitiativeEverywhere, USA Loss of geopolitical and moral ground – or are in serious danger of doing so.
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Some analysts argue He doesn’t actually want to To rule the world – and that the world does not want anything or its tyrannical brand. They claim that his priorities, and China’s “core interests”, have not changed: internal stability, national sovereignty, undisputed control of the Chinese Communist Party, and economic and social development. However, Xi’s bolder and more confident actions at home after more than a decade in power belie such comforting theories. According to current trends, the Sino-American struggle for sovereignty will inevitably intensify. Thanks to Trump, more the loser than the strongman, the United States looks set to lose this conflict.
For the UK, this prospect is worrying, to put it mildly. Scorned by Beijing, patronized by Washington, disconnected from Europe, and reduced to the role of a lone bystander unable to formulate a coherent policy towards China, Britain can only hope to avoid becoming collateral damage.