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If you need further evidence that the trade war between the US and China is not just about trade, consider what US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said about the second largest economy. World during a recent trip to Latin America.
"When China calls, it is not always in the interest of your citizens," he said. "When they arrive with offers that seem too good to be true, they are often."
The reference to agreements was a thinly veiled attempt to drill holes in Beijing's One Belt One Road program – a $ 124-billion Chinese project aimed at facilitating trade and investment links between the two countries. Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond.
It was unveiled for the first time by President Xi Jinping in 2013 and has been widely regarded as his baby – but critics see it as part of China's plan to increase its global influence.
The program has recently been criticized for what some have called "debt diplomacy" – implying that when you enter into an agreement with China, you end up in debt.
According to analysts, the American pressure on Beijing has given other countries the power to speak against China while they have been silent in the past. Sri Lanka, Malaysia and even Pakistan have all expressed concerns about this program.
And China is not only facing American criticism of the Belt and Road program.
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Take comments from US Secretary of Defense James Mattis at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) defense meeting this weekend, for example. The United States generally criticizes China's operations in the South China Sea at these summits, but this time it has gone further.
"We will not be intimidated and we will not withdraw because we can not accept [China’s] the militarization of the South China Sea or any constraint in this region, "said Mr. Mattis, while reaffirming the US commitment to the region and the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
The comments of MM. Pompeo and Mattis should not be considered in isolation. They are part of what many observers have said to be an increasingly aggressive narrative on the part of the Trump administration on China on almost every front.
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that agreements with China are often too good to be true
It's a story that should not surprise us. This has been constantly reported, and perhaps nowhere more blatantly than in the recent speech by US Vice President Mike Pence at the Hudson Institute on the US Government's policy towards China. He added that "Beijing uses a whole-of-government approach, using political, economic and military tools, as well as propaganda, to strengthen its influence and serve its interests in the United States."
Pence is scheduled to attend the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in Papua New Guinea next month. He is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also expected to attend.
Papua New Guinea is the latest country to join China's One Belt One Road program. This is another area in which you can expect a battle of influence between the United States and China.
While the United States sees the trade war as an opportunity to repair the damage done by China during decades of unjust trade, Beijing sees the trade war as an attempt by the Trump administration to curb the rise of power. China.
So, even if both sides come to some sort of trade resolution – which in itself is highly unlikely at the moment – it is not a conflict that will disappear. Neither side will give way quickly. This is only the beginning.
