America has closed the Chinese consulate earlier. On July 21, the United States unilaterally decided to close the Chinese Consulate office in Houston. Subsequently, China also closed the US Consulate in Chengdu. This is a world practice in diplomacy. When one creates a problem, the other responds. It has become an international practice in diplomacy to do one thing after another. It is an expression of the diplomatic cold war in rival countries.
Trump’s step is against the principle of the rule of law and international diplomacy. The hasty and unilateral order to come to Across without thinking has tarnished America’s reputation in the world. China has also ordered the closure of the US Consulate in Chengdu. However, China seems to have taken such an unpleasant decision because of US coercion. If the United States had not ordered the closure of the Chinese Consulate, China would not have been forced to take such drastic action. Therefore, the United States must correct such weaknesses.
Rising this tensions between two countries have shaken the world. Relations between the two countries have been strained by long-running allegations. It is a threat to world peace. The United States has castigated China for the forced sterilization of Uyghur women; lobbied Europe to ban Chinese security screening firm Nuctech; imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials held responsible for Hong Kong’s new national security law; and placed 90-day limits on work visas for Chinese journalists. In response, China’s Foreign Ministry branded U.S. criticism of its Uyghur policy as ‘baseless’ while bluntly telling Washington to butt out of Hong Kong affairs.
This rapid descent into conflict has taken many by surprise. For most of this century, Sino-U.S. competition was moderated by the need to work together on a range of global economic, financial, and geopolitical issues that mandated cooperation. But these cooperative impulses have almost entirely disappeared, exacerbated by recriminations over responsibility for the coronavirus pandemic, which has exposed the depth of their mutual mistrust.
The US presidential election is currently underway. Donald Trump wants to return to the presidency again. The dispute with China is also linked to this election. Trump seems to be trying to draw attention to it by making China a rival. He called the corona as a Chinese virus. But now the United States has become the most affected country in the world. The United States withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO) amid allegations of coronavirus. Trump’s behavior pushed down the US from the global position. Trump thinks that chanting nationalist slogans in the coming election will benefit him.
Trump is involved in extreme nationalism as ‘America First’ and he is trying to be confined to the US. Mostly he has given priority only to white supremacy. By creating anti-China phobia Trump wants to get votes in the election. This is his hidden interest. With this intension, he has started a trade war with China. Diplomatic war has also started till the consulate office is closed. The Cold War between the two countries has already begun. As a result, the United States is becoming increasingly isolated in the world.
Now, the US-China conflict is making the world tenser. But after Corona, the United States is getting weaker. Although unable to stop coronavirus completely, with the strong centralized control system China able to control the coronavirus to some extent. Due unable to stop the flow from outside, it has not been able to come under complete control. Coronavirus is the leading cause of death in the United States. The US economy is collapsing. Unemployment has risen and democracy has weakened. So in the new world after Corona, America will weak.
The new Cold War is playing out across the world; its geographic center of gravity is the Indo-Pacific, not Europe, because the epicenter of global commerce and trade has moved from the Atlantic to the Pacific, reflecting Asia’s rise and Europe’s decline. The United States and China are both Pacific powers, so their rivalry will be felt most keenly in the Indo-Pacific, particularly at sea, where their interests collide and there are several potential triggers for military confrontation.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the previously bipolar world was transformed into a unipolar world, and for some time the American rule was in place. The multi-polar world is evolving, not a two-polar world. The role of China and the European Union in the world is rising up. Now a multipolar world is developing under the leadership of China. China, Russia, India, South Africa, and Brazil are developing a multi-polar world. Now, the United States is gradually descending into a defensive position. The role of emerging countries is growing in the world. In some cases, it is called that ‘Europe without America’. Now, the US is moving towards the Indo-Pacific strategy by withdrawing US troops from Germany. The US no longer has a role as a global leader. It is only a country that has gone into extreme nationalism, self-sector, or isolation.
A China affairs center of the America is also located in Chengdu China. Americans used to carry out their anti-China activities from there, but China stopped them. The US then passed the New Tibet Act. The US has been providing financial assistance to Tibetan refugees, supporting to meet with the Dalai Lama if anyone has fled from Tibet. This action of the United States is likely to affect Nepal as well. The US is also working to uplift or provoke the Tibetans on Nepal’s soil. It is working to uplift the separatists.
If the MCC is passed in Nepal, America will enter here and work with India to weaken China and move ahead with the strategy of encirclement. If it had happened at other times, the MCC would have been revoked on the grounds that it had expired, but now it is being passed with an extension. The main reason for this is the US strategy of retaliation against China.
The world is waiting for the US election. Everyone is watching to see who will lead. If Trump comes again, these problems will remain. If new leadership will come, this situation will not exist. If another new leadership came, the United States would not be alone and will try to lead the world. Trump is shifting his role from the world to the United States, which the current leadership may not do.
China’s foreign policy is not so weak. The worldview of China is a bit broader. BRI’s strategy connects 70-80 countries of the world. Relations with those countries are gradually getting closer. China needs good relations with the world further. That is why China does not want to make serious decisions. China wants to move forward with harmony in the world by solving as many problems as possible. The United States was the leader of globalization yesterday, but now it is becoming China. Therefore, the small things seen in diplomacy do not affect China. China needs cooperation and alliance with other nations of the world. America understood this. It is doing so to prevent or deter China from becoming a world power. The United States has thought that it would be a big deal to push for 30 years without becoming a world power in 15 years. That is why the US is trying to weaken China.
China and the United States are two powerful countries. As the world’s largest economy, China and the United States are closely linked. If relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate, this could be a threat to the entire world. It is easy to assume that the trade war that started in 2018 has caused huge losses to both the countries. This cold war between the two countries must end for world peace. A peaceful solution must be found from the table talk.
For world peace and peaceful development, China and the United States have no choice but to go together. Both countries are major economic powers in the world. The announcement by the United States of secession from the World Health Organization is also a matter of grave concern to the world. If there are any problems within the World Health Organization, they can be fixed. While there is ample possibility of correcting such mistakes, it is not wise to separate by making many excuses. Therefore, it is in the best interest of not only China and the United States, but of the entire world, to move forward by resolving the problems we see through dialogue.
(Mr. Hiranyalal Shrestha is a Senior Diplomat and Writer as well as Former Nepalese Ambassador to Russia)
