President Trump said that with this pandemic, the forty-year era of relocation is over. Not many have blamed him and the reason is clear. For four decades, huge quantities of European and US capital have been invested in China to make labour-intensive products, underpaying the workforce, and reselling these products worldwide for high profits. Hundreds of millions of Chinese have gone from dire poverty to a dignified livelihood. The elites of the Party have benefited from these commercial operations, eventually flaunting lifestyles that far outweigh those of the impoverished American middle class in terms of luxury.
But now Trump, interpreting both the moods of the American electorate and the complex strategies developed by the Pentagon’s brains and US political scientists, is carrying out a kind of overthrow of alliances. If 40 years ago Kissinger suggested to Nixon to finance the development of China to weaken the Moscow-Beijing axis, today it is time to build good relations with Putin in order to isolate China from other countries in Asia and around the world.
The fact that Donald Trump flirted with the Kremlin before his election was demonstrated by the many episodes deliberately left in the shadows by the Congressional Investigation Commission. Likewise can be said of his hostility to 5G and of the contacts with Taiwanese leaders aimed at ensuring US support for the island’s claims of independence, also in contrast to the international commitments made with Beijing in 2014. IT’s multinationals, and others, wasted no time in packing and moving their facilities to other countries in the area.
Trump, in January, forced Chinese negotiators to accept the so-called “phase 1” of an onerous trade agreement that involves the purchase of American agricultural goods for 200 billion dollars. The President spares no propaganda bullets against Beijing and from the oval study the most diverse accusations rain: the artificial creation of the virus – which researchers are not very convinced, piracy on a large scale, not to mention the ambitions of controlling the South China Sea by the armed forces of the Dragon.
In an interview with Fox News, President Trump said that in the event of a complete breakdown of trade relations with China, the US would save around $ 500 billion. So, the hypothesis is not to be ruled out a priori. International public opinion is accustomed to the boutades of Donald, but in this case the reactions have been very worried. An escalation with Beijing is there for all to see. And it is an escalation that spares no one, since Trump is accusing both the United Nations and the WHO of being too complacent with the Chinese, to the point of excluding Taiwan from the assembly on Covid 19. Until May 20th, American citizens have seen 91,938 of their relatives die from the “Chinese virus” and the White House hawks have done everything in his power to direct collective hostility against Beijing.
According to a Deutsche Bank survey, 41% of Americans say they will no longer buy Chinese products and 35% of Chinese say the same about American products. According to another survey, conducted by FTI Consulting in Washington, 78% of Americans are willing to spend more money on buying products from companies that abandon their plants in China. Finally, claims for compensation from entities and private individuals, in Great Britain, India, Germany, Italy, etc. are multiplying against Beijing. Trump has promised that he will eventually present the bill to Beijing, specifying that it will be very salty. Commercial nationalism is advancing at a fast pace.
For developing countries that had accepted Chinese loans, and already had difficulties in honouring them, the situation has become more dramatic due to the consequences of the epidemic. They try to restructure the debt, but China does not show willingness to accept it (except in some cases) giving reason to who is accusing China of attracting poor nations into the “debt trap“. In the meantime, the US Air Force has transferred 200 fighter pilots to the Guam base and deployed B1 bombers in the area. In the skies of the Taiwan Strait, fighter planes of both sides are flying at a short distance from each other. The waters that separate the “rebel” island from China have ships of the two warships facing each other threateningly, engaged in dangerous exercises. A possible accident – accidental or wanted – is around the corner. The silk road is really uphill.
