The most dangerous risk from the ongoing "trade war" between the United States and China is that it is not fundamentally about trade. With each tit-for-tat escalation and retaliation from both sides, what the world is witnessing is a larger struggle between two grand competitors of the 21st century, underpinned by opposing systems of socioeconomic organisation, values and ideas about global order.
China is essentially carrying on this battle of ideas and organisational systems in place of the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). If the second half of the 20th century was about the US versus the USSR, between liberal democracy and market capitalism on the one hand and communist party-rule and central planning on the other, then the first half of the 21st century is about the US versus China. The key difference is that China has adopted and blended communism with market capitalism. This Chinese adaptation and optimisation of centralised control with a dynamic capitalist system makes it a more formidable foe.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak teaches International Relations and directs the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University.
