Trump Set On Winning The Trade War Against China

It was suggested by the CCP leadership that 'the elephant (India) and the dragon (China) should dance together' against the US tariff policies. Prime Minister Modi avoided falling into the trap.

- M.D. NALAPAT

President Trump of the US, as does Prime Minister Modi of India, understands that the world is witnessing a seismic shift that will have grave consequences. Which is why they are the target of the lead protagonist of the new situation, China under the CCP.

Few took seriously the few who pointed out that a new Cold War pitting system against system, had begun, this one principally pitting China against the United States. Cold War 2.0 is as existential a battle as was Cold War 1.0, which pitted the US against the Soviet Union. As in the previous Cold War, both sides are competing in winning over other countries. Cold War 1.0 ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and in the 21st century, the centre of gravity has shifted from the US and Europe to the US and Asia.

Not surprisingly, European countries have sought to deny such a shift, and to keep their focus on what, since the Soviet collapse, is the depleted country known as the Russian Federation. They are seeking to keep the global focus fixated on Moscow, rather than accept that it needs to be on Beijing.

Several of the battlegrounds of Cold War 2.0 are the same as what they were in Cold War 1.0, with several in Asia, Africa and South America.

Prime Minister Modi has quietly built bridges with several countries crucial to the eventual outcome of the new situation. So has President Trump, but with much greater fanfare. From the second term of President Hu Jintao, China under the CCP has engaged in a battle for supremacy with the US, although only during the Trump Presidency has the US seriously engaged China in a battle that both sides know will be existential.

Sometime ago, it had been pointed out in the pages of The Sunday Guardian that Trump, Modi, Ishiba and Yoon of the US, India, Japan and South Korea, respectively, are in the crosshairs of Beijing as each understands the existential threat they face in their contest with Xi Jinping.