China must brace itself for the fallout of America the superpower losing its self-confidence

Tian Feilong warns that US inability to adapt to China’s rise may pose a serious security challenge, as a more suspicious America abandons its strategic patience and opts for more risky strategies to stifle China’s rejuvenation

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The US has increasingly fallen into a state of strategic suspicion, confrontation and uncertainty, which became more evident after China put forward its “Belt and Road Initiative”. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Published: 12:01pm, 26 Jan 2018Updated: 7:31pm, 26 Jan 2018

The recent 19th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party and the historical fact of China’s decisive rise have put the US on edge. After the second world war, the United States became a global hegemony by the strength of its unrivalled soft power. By the end of the cold war, it became the world’s sole superpower.

US-led economic globalisation and the third wave of democratisation, with America in the vanguard, led Francis Fukuyama to proclaim the “end of history”. America’s confidence and swagger in its strategic prowess reached a peak. With US self-confidence at a high, Sino-US relations grew strong. The two developed some camaraderie in the stand-off with the Soviet Union, and learned what it was like to be in a mutually beneficial relationship.

The Tiananmen protests of 1989, however, exposed the gulf in the two countries’ value systems. After 1989, China’s economy began to grow by leaps and bounds. So did its international clout. By contrast, the US has increasingly fallen into a state of strategic suspicion, confrontation and uncertainty, which became more evident after China put forward its Belt and Road Initiative.

With the US losing its strategic self-confidence and determination, relative to China’s, it is no longer able to face a rising China from the vantage point of calm superiority. We can see this in recent events.

First, the Trump administration labelled China a presumed enemy and competitor in its national security strategy. The US was the one to first raise alarm about the so-called “Thucydides Trap” – a view of the Sino-US relationship Beijing does not share.

China must brace itself for the fallout of America the superpower losing its self-confidence

Tian Feilong warns that US inability to adapt to China’s rise may pose a serious security challenge, as a more suspicious America abandons its strategic patience and opts for more risky strategies to stifle China’s rejuvenation

Watch: China-US relations in the Trump era