By Dr. Sawraj Singh
In the year 2019, the trends of the rise of China and decline of America became clear. Even though overall, America still remains the most powerful country, yet it became clear that its influence is on the decline. On the other hand, there are visible signs that China is gaining influence. There is infighting in America, depriving it of any powerful leader. China is rallying behind a powerful leader. Similarly, there are growing conflicts of America with its allies, whereas China’s major ally Russia is moving closer and closer to China. Many American allies are moving toward China. The American-led NATO seems to be falling apart while the Chinese One Belt One Road initiative seems to be getting a very good response. America is facing a very tough challenge both on the economic as well as the military fronts. China is becoming the leading economic power and Russia is becoming the country with the most advanced weaponry.
Infighting between the Democrats and the Republicans has left America without any powerful leader. The Impeachment process has weakened Trump. Even though because of the Republican majority in the Senate, Trump will be saved from impeachment, yet the fact that he was impeached by the Congress has already weakened him. The Democrats do not seem to have a strong leader and Trump may be reelected. However, he will not be as strong as he was in his first term. Contrary to this, the Chinese are rallying behind Xi Jinping, their President. The Chinese want a strong leader like Mao Tse- Tung and they see that potential in Xi Jinping.
There are growing conflicts between America and its allies. The Europeans seem to be moving away from America. France and Germany are emerging as the leaders of Europe, while America’s main ally in Europe seems to be marginalized. This marginalization has led to a strong sentiment for BREXIT. The net result of BREXIT will be further weakening of the British and the American influence in Europe and further widening of the Trans Atlantic gap. The NATO is becoming weak. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has called NATO brain dead. The German President, Angela Merkel, while not using such strong language, admitted that there were serious problems faced by the NATO. Europe is increasingly concerned about the isolationist policies of America. America has withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement and has also withdrawn from the Trans Pacific Partnership in 2017. The European countries have been unable to convince America to reconsider its decisions. The Europeans are also unhappy with America’s policies on trade, and they did not feel comfortable with America starting a trade war with China. The European leaders and Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau were caught making fun of the American President Trump.
While the American allies seem to be moving away from America, Russia and China are moving closer. They signed the largest trade agreement ever. Russia is the largest energy producing country and China is the largest energy using country. Russia is the largest producer of crude oil and the second largest producer of dry natural gas. They signed a 400 billion dollar deal. A 55 billion dollar pipeline will carry Russian oil to China. This is probably the biggest trade deal ever signed. Besides the economic agreements, Russia and China have taken identical and parallel stands on many major international issues. There seems to be an understanding between the two that American hegemony and western domination of the world should end now and the world should become multipolar.
Russia and China are posing a major challenge to the American hegemony. China is posing an economic challenge while Russia is posing a military challenge. China has become the manufacturing center of the world and its share of the world economy and trade is rising while America’s share is decreasing in both areas. If we use the PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) instead of the GDP, then China has already beaten the US. President Vladimir Putin has just made a claim that Russia now has the most advanced hypersonic and laser weapons. He said that at the time of the Soviet Union, Russia always wanted to catch up with the west, and now the west is trying to catch up with Russia.
China’s One Belt One Road Initiative has taken off and 68 countries with 65% of the world population and 40% of the GDP of the world have joined the initiative. The Trilateral meeting between the Chinese Prime Minister Le Keqiang, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the South Korean President, Moon Jae-in which was just held in Chengdu, shows the growing clout of China. Two of the closest American allies have to come to China to allay their fears of a potential nuclear North Korea.
It is obvious that China is gaining influence in the world and in the region at the expense of America. This is not a transitory phenomenon, but is a part of the major trend of today’s world that is Rise of the East and decline of the West. However, India and particularly Punjab seem to be oblivious about the major global as well as regional trends. The main reason for this phenomenon could be a slavish mentality of our intellectuals toward the west in general, and in the case of Punjab, pseudo intellectuals and the pseudo Marxists are playing a major role toward intellectual bankruptcy in Punjab. They have completely failed in making our people aware of the changing global and regional trends. How else can we explain the exodus of our people to the declining West?
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
