Soft power: Engineers of China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group (CREC-5) celebrating the completion of the China-Laos railway Ban Konlouang Tunnel in Laos in April. China’s massive global infrastructure transformation through its Belt Road Initiative is destined to have a lasting impact upon humankind. — Xinhua/Handput
CONSTANT attacks by some US elites on China will, according to some observers, diminish and disappear once the US presidential election is over in November 2020.
This is unlikely to happen for at least two reasons. One, the issues that underscore the targeting of China are fundamental in nature and go beyond elections and personalities. Two, at the root of some of these issues are questions of power – of dominance and control – whose resolution will span decades if not centuries.
First, we should look at those areas of conflict where the latter has surpassed the former.
Within specific sub-fields of science and technology, China appears to have moved ahead of the US. Maritime surveillance and lunar geography would be two such sub-fields. Chinese advances in electronics and telecommunications have also been breathtaking. It is because China is at the forefront of cutting edge technology that there is so much anxiety in the US and the West today about China’s ascendancy. Those who have dominated the world for so long know that it is mastery over science and technology that endows a nation or civilisation with power and strength.
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