By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

Monday night’s video summit between the presidents of the world’s two largest economies centred largely on rhetoric in which the aging Joe Biden was simply outclassed by the energetic Xi Jinping.
China’s Chief Executive drew red lines and spoke of decisive action by Beijing for any move by the breakaway island of Taiwan towards independence, while his US counterpart, who is accused of encouraging the secessionists through arms supplies, conceded that Washington adheres to the “One China” policy.
It was clear that the Americans despite attempts to flex their aging and aching military muscles in the South China Sea weren’t looking for any confrontation with the rapidly growing might of China.
In this age of nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles a war is disastrous for not just the two antagonists but for the rest of the world, and thus reason dictates that it should be avoided at all costs.
Only insane and illegitimate regimes, such as Israel, fearful of their impending end, threaten war and crave for war, which will only accelerate their doom.
Moreover, neither the US nor China will ever enter into proxy wars with each other, no matter how strongly Beijing were to denounce any American military move in a third country, or how vehemently Washington were to condemn Chinese incursions in any neighbouring state.
The US and China thus, are more concerned about how to outmaneuver each other in the trade war in a bid to boost their respective economies, rather than boast about their doomsday stockpiles.
Both believe that diplomacy is the only viable way to deal which other, as Xi displayed in the virtual summit by smilingly calling Biden “my old friend”, while his American counterpart never allowed his tone to become tense and was as courteous as possible.
The Americans believe that cutting American tariffs on Chinese imports could reduce inflation, the biggest economic and political headache for the Biden regime, since as of October, the US is importing Chinese goods at an annual rate of $600 billion – a 60% increase from the pre-Covid-19 level of October 2018.
In other words, trade between the two countries is so extensive that it has a major influence on the US price level, which means it is odd to speak of a Cold War between the US and China when the American industrial economy is massively dependent on Chinese imports.
China very well understands the US weakness and is confident that with its vast resources, cheap labour, giant strides in modern technology, and its policy of the Roads and Belt Initiative (BRI), it can surge ahead of its main rival in the long run.
All this means, Washington whose hegemony is on the wane because of the backlash of world countries towards its tyranny and long list of crimes against humanity, cannot prevent Beijing from either working towards a “One Korea” policy and a Chinese umbrella covering East/Southeast Asia, or expanding trade and industrial ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and the West Asian countries, as well as African states, with the markets of Europe and even Latin America now flooded with Chinese goods.