The Restore America Project

Gideon Rachman wrote today a very interesting column in the Financial Times about what Mr. Rachman considers to be the “defining geopolitical drama” of the 21st century: the battle for power and influence between China and America.

Interesting article aside, Rachman is right about the fracturing relationship between China and America. While China is an imperialist, communist country, America is a freedom-centered nation that has no interest in expanding its territory. Additionally, $14 trillion of debt and a weak foreign policy under President Obama have made the United States highly vulnerable to China, an emerging superpower with a massive labor force and plenty of money to spend.

To see the future of Chinese and American interactions, look at the recent political conflicts occurring over southeast Asia. The United States recently upgraded the Taiwanese air force as tensions between Taiwan and China escalated in recent weeks. China has poured billions of dollars into advanced fighter jets and missile systems that would easily crush Taiwan while deterring the US from intervening on Taiwan’s behalf. In fact, China has developed a new “carrier-killing” anti-ship ballistic missile which would essentially prevent US carrier battle groups from helping Taiwan.

Fortunately, we in the United States have some things going for us: China is the largest foreign buyer of US debt and exports billions of dollars worth of goods every year to the United States. A conflict with the US would force China to offload its business to other trading partners, but ironically, its other major trading partners are all US allies. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are the second, fourth, and fifth largest trading partners (listed respectively) of China , according to 2010 statistics. In this way, a war would be absolutely devastating for China’s economy.

America cannot rely wholly upon its military might to placate China and prevent hostile action. A military can only be strong with a steady, productive economy, and our economy is currently struggling. China is set to overtake the United States economically by 2020, and by that time, the Chinese economic and military machine will be unstoppable. If the United States can accelerate its economic development through government austerity and tax cuts, our country will get back on its feet and will have a fighting chance in the struggle to maintain our position of power in the world.

The escalating conflict between America and China will someday become as notable in the history books as the infamous Cold War, the conclusion of which sparked the creation of democracies in former Soviet states and fostered the concept of freedom throughout the world. We are now faced with another grave threat to the values that we as Americans hold dear. Will this New Cold War end in freedom for the abused and impoverished citizens of China or the suppression of freedom-loving peoples throughout the Pacific?

Sometimes, I really wish Ronald Reagan were here…

Links: Gideon Rachman’s column

In blog news, be sure to check out my thoughts on wasteful government spending in Montebello, California.