What would it be like to build solidarity opposed to imperial rivalry from below?
The news is full of stories about the spiraling clash between the U. S. and China. The U. S. and China are involved in everything from industry to geopolitical disputes to military mourning exercises. They all converge in Taiwan, a small country claimed through China as a renegade province, subsidized through the United States. and houses the world’s most complex microchip production plants.
These factories produce chips that power everything from iPhones to Washington’s F-35 fighter-bomber and high-tech weapons. Economic and military confrontation.
On Capitol Hill and in the convention halls, as Edward Luce points out, the “old Washington consensus” on China integration has been replaced by a new “China disintegration. ” Joe Biden continued Donald Trump’s grand strategy of mighty rivalry with Beijing.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republicans are mocking a new Cold War and introduced a committee on the Chinese Communist Party, which recently subjected TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to racist interrogations. And corporations like Apple are in the early stages of moving their supply chains. of China.
Beijing has introduced a counteroffensive opposed to what Xi Jinping calls Washington’s policy of “containment, encirclement and suppression” of China in a bid to re-establish his country as a wonderful force in a multipolar world. As a result, the two states, despite their deep economic integration, seem headed towards an increasingly wonderful geopolitical conflict, even war.
Their antagonism is the central inter-imperial rivalry of the twenty-first century, with the United States to maintain its dominance and China to challenge it.
The progression of this rivalry was the last thing the United States wanted. After the end of the Cold War, he experienced what Charles Krauthammer termed a “unipolar moment. “Emergence of a new competitor through the incorporation of all the states of the world into its so-called rules-based flexible industry globalization order.
As Gilbert Achcar argues in his recently published book, The New Cold War, the United States is willing to avoid any challenge from Russia and China. To engage them, as well as other potential threats to its dominance, Washington has expanded NATO. , maintained its vast network of military bases in Asia, conducted military operations in opposition to so-called rogue states like Iraq, and imposed “stability” on countries like Haiti destroyed by its neoliberal economic policies.
However, the best-laid plans are lost. Three breakthroughs ushered in today’s asymmetric multipolar global order, triggering the rivalry between Washington and Beijing at its core.
First, China and various sub-imperial forces took advantage of the long neoliberal boom from the 1980s to 2008 to create new centers of capital accumulation. Thus, economic expansion began to adjust the relative balance of forces between states within global capitalism.
Second, Washington’s desire to secure its hegemony through its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq has exploded in its face, engulfing it in two decades of counterinsurgency warfare. China and others have used the situation to further assert their economic and political interests.
Third, the Great Recession of 2008 put an end to the neoliberal boom and hit the United States and its European allies. China’s massive public investment pulled its economy out of recession and spurred a commodity boom that supported expansion in countries like Brazil and Australia.
All this has led to the relative decline of US imperialism and the emergence of the current asymmetrical multipolar global order. Of course, the U. S. is an oversized regional power and a host of sub-imperialist states ranging from Saudi Arabia to Israel to Brazil, which challenge and cooperate with the U. S. UU. de somehow.
Washington sees China as its biggest rival. Beijing has gone from being an autarkic and underdeveloped economy to a capitalist superpower. It is now the world’s largest economy, the largest manufacturer, the largest exporter, the main trading spouse of most of the world’s major economies. , the largest exporter of capital, the largest creditor and one of the main beneficiaries of foreign direct investment.
A mix of economic festival and crisis has led China to challenge American, Japanese and European capital around the world. For China’s high-tech industry, Xi Jinping has introduced a new trade policy, Made in China 2025, to fund national champions to produce complexes. semiconductors, skipping the price chain and ending dependence on foreign suppliers.
The Great Recession and the Chinese state’s extensive stimulus measures, however, have led to a systemic in its economy. and falling profits of Chinese companies. “
To triumph over them, Xi introduced the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. China has pledged more than $1 trillion in loans to its state-owned banks to build infrastructure in the Global South, largely to facilitate exports of uncooked fabrics to fuel its economy in traditional imperialist fashion countries.
China has turned this economic force into a geopolitical force. It created the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which brought together Russia and the Central Asian states, and also united Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in a geopolitical bloc (the BRICS) with its new Development Bank to compete with the US-ruled G7. The United States used either (among other bilateral and multilateral political and economic agreements) to allocate its interests in Asia and around the world.
To help those efforts, China has revolutionized its military. It has increased its military spending by 5% to 7% annually over the past two decades to nearly $300 billion, at which point the United States alone.
He focused on projecting this force into the East and South China Seas. It has built militarized islands to patrol foreign shipping lanes, claimed maritime spaces with underwater reserves of fossil fuels, and asserted fishing. All this has led Beijing to clash with other countries. with rival claims, adding Japan, Brunei, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The US-China clash is reaching its climax in Taiwan, with US General Mike Minihan expecting war in 2025.
China has developed a military strategy of “denial of anti-access zone” to protect its interests and deter the US. established in countries in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa that it considers strategic.
Of course, the U. S. The US remains the world’s largest economy, controls the dollar as a foreign reserve currency, has the largest network of military allies, spends nearly 3 times more than China on defense, and has more than 750 bases worldwide. To assert its supremacy, it has taken a competitive turn by involving Beijing.
Barack Obama initiated this with his Pivot to Asia policy, and Donald Trump made it worse with his declaration of power rivalry with China and Russia. But on the contrary, Trump’s erratic mismanagement has exacerbated Washington’s relative decline.
To repair its hegemony, the Biden administration has followed a strategy of imperialist Keynesianism. He began to implement a trade policy entirely designed to ensure U. S. economic and military supremacy.
Biden has maintained price lists and Trump’s sanctions on Chinese exports to the U. S. It is preparing to upload new ones. Specifically, he used national security as justification to block the sale of complex microchips, which have commercial and military applications.
Biden also encouraged corporations to “back up their chains of origin with friends,” moving them from China to the U. S. The U. S. and its allies. To melt the bid, he signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill to revamp America’s crumbling transportation system, upgrading its woefully backward internet. , and finance the structure of a new network of electric vehicle charging stations, all to twenty-first century capitalism.
He enacted the Chip and Science Act that will inject more than $280 billion into corporations and universities to design and manufacture complex PC chips in the United States to lessen their dependence on foreign suppliers. Finally, its $385 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), even though it is sold as climate change, offers tired and dubious green capitalist “solutions. “
But, at the same time, it is expanding the extraction of fossil fuels for export, especially to European countries to allow them to gain energy independence from Russia. The IRA also budgets domestic production of solar panels, electric cars, batteries and their parts. end dependence on foreign suppliers and competitors, basically China.
To complement this imperialist trade policy, Biden has introduced a geopolitical crusade to forge a front of democracies opposed to autocracies. This is largely an ideological stance, as American democracy is, to say the least, on the brink of crisis (remember January 6). ?) and allies it invited to its two “democracy summits” included states that Freedom House classified as “partially flexible,” “not at all flexible,” and “electoral autocracies. “
However, Biden has made progress in building an alliance, most commonly made up of his Cold War allies opposed to China and Russia. He used the alibi of Beijing’s oppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as justification for staging a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, games joined by Britain, Canada, Australia, India and a list of small states. Washington’s claims to care about human rights reek of hypocrisy, as he enforces New Jim Crow at home and supports oppressive states like apartheid Israel.
In response, China and Russia announced a “boundless friendship” in the run-up to the Olympics in a set that calls for “a multipolar formula of foreign relations” and denounces “attempts through some states [the United States and its allies] to impose their own ‘democratic norms’ on other countries,” a policy it denounces as “attempts at hegemony. “
As the rivalry intensified, Biden improved the military’s budgets for the year, delivering $780 billion in 2022, nearly $820 billion by 2023 and proposing $886 billion by 2024. And he lobbied for all American allies, especially those in Europe and Asia. to increase its defense spending, fueling an arms race abroad.
In Asia, Biden has emphasized the quadrilateral security dialogue, which includes Australia, India, Japan and has been conducting joint military training for years. He orchestrated his first summit with the heads of all states in 2021, in a move explicitly designed to counter porcelain.
He also initiated the New Trilateral Military Pact between Australia, the UK and the US. The U. S. military (AUKUS) to ensure Canberra acquires nuclear-powered submarines to counter Beijing’s developing naval power. willing to do it with the U. S. The U. S. is on a united front opposed to North Korea and China.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine brought this inter-imperial rivalry to its climax. Putin introduced war to rebuild the Russian empire, colonize Ukraine, quell national and regional struggles for democracy, and counter NATO in what he sees as Russia’s sphere of influence.
Putin believed Russia was in an ideal position to trigger war after securing “unlimited friendship” with China and following Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Which underestimated the Ukrainian resistance, which stopped Russia in its tracks and surprised the US powers. The US and NATO were waiting for the caída. de Kiev.
Washington has supported Ukraine, as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has stated, to weaken Russia and rally allies opposed to Moscow and Beijing. In fact, Putin’s war was a gift to US imperialism. Washington has re-legitimized and galvanized NATO, which has been abolished. after the War Fría. La expanding security alliance recently accepted Finland and is negotiating Sweden’s membership. And the U. S. The US has managed to pressure its European allies to increase their military budgets.
In addition, Washington has controlled convincing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that China is one of its “systemic challenges. “France, the Netherlands and Germany have already joined the United States and Japan in naval exercises in the Asia-Pacific.
For its part, Washington has intensified its policy toward China since the war. Biden shot down the Chinese spy ball, arrested Chinese cops and, as recent leaks show, stepped up surveillance operations not only on Russia and China, but also on their allies. like South Korea, Egypt and even the head of the UN.
Biden has also used national security as justification for escalating Washington’s chip war against China. The United States, along with Japan and the Netherlands, have banned the export to China of complex semiconductors and machinery to manufacture them on the grounds that this superior generation has both civilian and military applications.
Morris Chang, the founder of Taiwanese semiconductor maker TSMC, which had already agreed to avoid promoting complex chips to Huawei, said he “supports” the ban, which is designed to hamper China’s high-tech industry. But, he warned, this means that “globalization is dead” and “free trade” is in danger.
However, in reality, despite tariffs, sanctions, and bans, the U. S. -commerce industry is not in the U. S. The U. S. and Chinese trade market reached a record in 2022 of $690 billion. At this point, then, Washington, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently reiterated, does not seek “decoupling” but “risk reduction”: taking militarily strategic industries and supply chains out of China.
Beijing responded to Washington’s attacks with a counteroffensive. Before doing so, he had to triumph over a slowing economy, emerging unemployment, and domestic resilience, all partly caused by his draconian zero-COVID policy.
Thus, Xi has abandoned the blockades, has reopened the country to the global and upward for public and personal capital, triggering an expansion of 4. 5% in the first quarter of 2023. It is guiding this new expansion with a new trade policy designed to create a dual-circulation economy with an increasingly autonomous domestic formula alongside an export formula to the global.
China also imposed sanctions on U. S. companies, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon added, and introduced an investigation into U. S. chipmaker Micron, all in retaliation for what it calls the Washington-led “technology blockade. “However, as one CIA analyst admitted, China “has many levers it can use to exert pressure on U. S. allies and partners whose economies rely on industry with China. “
To capitalize on this, Xi has introduced a multi-front diplomatic offensive opposed to Washington. He orchestrated an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to repair diplomatic relations, something unexpected and leaving aside the US. While demonstrating China’s newfound prestige as a potential intermediary in the Middle East. .
Soon after, Xi held a summit with Vladimir Putin in Russia, affirming their “boundless friendship,” accepting industrial deals denominated in Chinese yuan, and reiterating their shared commitment to building a multipolar global order opposed to Washington’s hegemony. Xi also called for a ceasefire in Ukraine, issued a framework for peace negotiations and promised to call President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
After a delay, he nevertheless contacted Zelenskyy, however, their discussion did not lead to any progress towards a ceasefire and negotiations and even less towards a just peace, the precondition of which is the withdrawal of Moscow’s forces. However, Beijing obviously hopes It exploits Russia’s divisions over the war and uses economic agreements to draw sub-imperial powers, especially the BRICS, as well as other southern governments into its orbit and prevent Europe from locking up with the US. U. S.
The Chinese government has been fortunate in this effort, several heads of state in China and raising considerations at the IMF that the global economy is on the verge of fragmenting “into rival economic blocs. “Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva visited Beijing, announced that “Brazil is back,” criticized Washington’s dollar hegemony, called for a multipolar financial world, introduced talks on new industrial and investment agreements, reiterated Putin’s justifications for invading Ukraine, and called for a ceasefire and negotiations.
As part of his efforts to court European states, Xi hosted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing. Scholz, whose economy relies heavily on exports, pressured Xi to pressure Russia to end the war, but limited himself to lucrative business and investment deals. .
France’s Emmanuel Macron, facing mass movements at home, joined European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on a trip to Beijing. Macron has attempted to forge a geopolitical position independent of the US. resisting fitting in U. S. “sympathizers” or “vassals” To “get into crises that are not ours. “
In a sign of division, von der Leyen rebuked Macron, warned that China opposes the use of force and reiterated the commission’s policy on Taiwan. Other EU leaders, such as EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell, have struck a different note.
He said the EU knew Russia as a security threat, but not China, and that Brussels continues to communicate with China “because of its great influence in the world. “Thus, European leaders remain divided over China, despite its appearance of unity on Taiwan and Ukraine at the recent G7 summit.
To this geopolitical offensive with force, China announced a 7. 2% increase in defense spending for this year. Beijing’s protectionist trade policy and militarism contrast with its repeated advocacy of multilateralism, lax industry and globalization.
The confrontation between the U. S. and the U. S. The U. S. and Chinese trade is reaching its climax in Taiwan, with U. S. General Mike Minihan going so far as to expect war in 2025. Beijing claims the island as a renegade province that it intends to reintegrate, while the U. S. does not want to reintegrate. The US occupies a position of “strategic ambiguity,” supporting a one-China policy that officially recognizes only Beijing, not knowing whether it would militarily protect Taiwan to deter China from invading and Taiwan from signaling independence.
What is at stake in the confrontation is only geopolitical, but also economic. Taiwan is home to some of the most complex semiconductor industries in the world. Companies like TSMC make and export 90% of the most complex PC chips to countries like China, which force everything from iPhones to military drones.
China vows to block any attempt through Taiwan to claim independence and affirms its determination to retake the island by force if necessary. In reaction to those threats, Joe Biden has claimed, in an obvious violation of strategic ambiguity, that the United States would protect Taiwan on the occasion of an attack.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s provocation of Taiwan triggered a fourth Taiwan Strait crisis. He said “America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s colorful democracy” as “the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy. “China policy and opposes any “unilateral effort to replace the prestige quo. “
It is that the foreign left opposes the crusade of the impulse towards imperialist war.
China responded by launching the largest military training in history near Taiwan, firing ballistic missiles, deploying warships in the strait and sending fighter jets over the island. Army training, this time simulating a blockade to prevent the United States from protecting the country.
Soon after, the U. S. The U. S. and Philippines conducted military training that included attacking a fake Chinese warship in the South China Sea, sending an apparent bellicose message to Beijing. These operations largely followed Washington’s new agreement with Manila to identify 4 new military bases near disputed waters across Beijing, adding one in Luzon near Taiwan.
The other Taiwanese are caught between China and the United States, their right to self-determination threatened by Beijing and cynically supported by the United States for imperial reasons.
However, a war between the U. S. and the U. S. The U. S. and China are at this stage. Their economies remain deeply integrated, possess massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons, and are anchored in complicated foreign geopolitical and economic institutions, all of which mitigate the dangers of war.
But, amid the multiple crises of global capitalism, the two powers are fomenting nationalist hostility and implementing antagonistic geopolitical and economic policies. In such volatile conditions, it is imperative that the foreign left agitate against the drive towards imperialist war.
In the US, the left’s most sensible precedence will have to be to oppose Washington’s attempt to impose its hegemony in the face of China’s challenge. Washington remains, as Martin Luther King Jr. said decades ago, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today,” a fact recently demonstrated through the destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq.
At the same time, we will have to avoid falling into the trap of the policy of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and the great imperial rival of Washington, China, or others like Russia. They are no less predatory and greedy imperialist states, as evidenced by Beijing’s record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, as well as Moscow’s, equally brutal, in Syria and Ukraine.
Instead, the left will have to build external solidarity from below between oppressed nations like Palestine, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as exploited personnel in both countries and around the world. This task is not an abstraction, but a necessity and a possibility.
World capitalism has united personnel across borders, and its crises are generating resistance from below in the US. In the US, China and around the world. In fact, since the Great Recession, we have noticed a wave of protests and revolts opposing deep inequality in each and every one. country.
The political challenge for the left is to build solidarity within itself and with each other. The quickest way to do this is to organize among the gigantic Chinese and Chinese-American populations, which number about 300,000 Chinese foreign students in the United States.
A left rooted in those communities has played and will play an important role in combating the anti-Chinese racism that Washington has stoked. It can also help organize workers’ struggle, especially on campuses where Chinese academics have played a prominent role. Maximum recently in the school movements that swept California. Such an organization has great potential for foreign solidarity, as many Chinese scholars have ties to the workers’ movement in China as well as the Chinese feminist movement.
There is also a large diaspora of other people oppressed by the Chinese state, many of whom come from Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan. It is up to the left to generate solidarity with these struggles to give the US state a choice. The US, which cynically presents itself as its friend, while militarizing its oppression as a component of its inter-imperial rivalry with China.
All these paintings will open paths to build a not unusual struggle with staff in China and Asia. Labor Notes has already set a precedent with its Chinese striker tours. Much more difficult, the left will have to look for each and every one of the possibilities, tenuous, to build bridges of solidarity to its struggles.
In 2019, for example, 80,000 technology employees in the United States and around the world signed an international call for solidarity with their Chinese counterparts to protest a policy that forced them to work from nine in the morning to nine at night. days per week. Thus, even in the high-tech industry, which is a key to inter-imperial rivalry, the staff has demonstrated the option of a non-unusual action against its exploiters.
Finally, the American left will have to collaborate with the Chinese left (and the Asian left in general) which, despite repression and harsh conditions, have developed extensive networks and publications such as Hong Kong’s Lasan, Taiwan’s New Bloom, and Chinese teams. and publications such as Gongchao, Chuang and Made in China Journal. Now is the time to build a foreign anti-imperialism that rejects the false choice between Washington and Beijing and organizes across borders in a struggle for a foreign socialism that puts other people and the planet first.
Ashley Smith is an editor and socialist activist in Burlington, Vermont. He has written for publications including Truthout, The International Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, ZNet, Jacobin, New Politics, and many other print and online publications. ebook for Haymarket Books entitled Socialism and Anti-Imperialism.
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