The United States and China are in a race. Who is winning?

The US is at risk of losing the race mainly because it is shooting itself not just in the foot, but in the head.

Picture courtesy of Unsplash.

There have been growing signs of a thaw in US-Chinese relations in recent weeks. A third round of trade talks between top officials ended amicably, and with hints that a deadline for reaching agreement might once again be extended. Washington has also taken steps to placate Beijing. The White House barred Taiwan’s request for President Lai Ching-te to make a stopover to New York on his way to Central America this week, abruptly cancelled high-level defense talks with Taiwan last month, and ordered the Commerce Department halt further export controls on China.

President Trump is known to be eager for a one-on-one meeting with President Xi to clinch a big deal, which may explain the White House’s reluctance to cause many waves. But there may be another reason for the uncharacteristic caution in US policy toward China: a growing sense that China has the upper end.

That, at least, is what I concluded in my mot recent Politico Europe column, which was published yesterday. I wrote:

In the competition between China and the U.S., China is winning.

That isn’t a conclusion many would have drawn six months ago, but now it’s inescapable.

What’s different today is that since taking office, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has taken many steps that play directly into its adversary’s hands, weakening its own ability to outcompete. And we will soon be at the point where this trend is irreversible.

For decades, China followed Deng Xiaoping’s dictum to “hide your strength and bide your time.” Unfortunately, most Western countries, led by the U.S., ignored the latter part of this admonition — that Beijing was biding its time — and instead focused on China as a huge new market for Western goods, services and capital.

Everyone could get rich from China getting rich, or so it seemed — a sentiment that Deng and his successors were absolutely fine with. Their purpose, however, wasn’t to get rich just for the sake of it, but to gain the necessary power to compete and win against the world’s sole remaining superpower.

Read the entire article on Politico.eu