Why China and the United States cannot afford an economic war
The economic war between China and the United States is not sustainable and the need to find a profitable coexistence for both is increasingly urgent. What emerged from a forum organized by Bloomberg
Despite the economic war between China and the United States and despite the very strong tensions between the two nations – for example in the context of the Indo-Pacific – China and the United States have a very close financial link that cannot be broken.
In fact, if this were to be skipped, it would cause an unprecedented world economic crisis. All the more so if there was a military conflict. The meeting organized by Bloomberg New Economy Forum saw the participation of important personalities who underlined not only the interdependence between China and the United States from an economic point of view but above all underlined the need to find a profitable coexistence for both.
Let's start with the statements by Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan according to which China cannot develop in a context of isolation from the world and, on the other hand, not even the world can think of developing economically while ignoring China.
As for the statements by former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, he argued that financial decoupling between the US and China is impossible and partial decoupling is likely to make the US, China and the world more susceptible to financial crises.
It is vital to have a mechanism to coordinate the world's first and second economies, as this is the only way to put out the next great financial and economic fire.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wanted to emphasize that current relations between the US and China are on a precipice and for this very reason both sides must realize that a conflict is not conceivable.
The only alternative is to find a profitable coexistence for both. Although at present – continued the former secretary of state – the United States and China are seen by their respective public opinion as rivals, it will instead be necessary for both parties to adopt a posture in which disputes must be mitigated and in which above all the aspiration to overwhelmingly win over the other must be avoided as this could lead humanity towards destruction.
In short, a Sino-American agreement on economic and monetary issues would improve US-China relations, even if it would not necessarily defuse the strategic tensions between the two powers.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-cina-e-stati-uniti-non-possono-permettersi-una-guerra-economica/ on Sun, 21 Nov 2021 09:47:15 +0000.