power & politics
"I never, ever grew up as a young woman believing that my gender would stand in the way of doing anything I wanted." Jacinta Ardern
“If you want to see the poor remain poor, generation after generation, just keep the standards low in their schools and make excuses for their academic shortcomings and personal misbehavior. But please don’t congratulate yourself on your compassion.” Thomas Sowell
"Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It's self-defense. It's patriotism." Joe Biden
“Corruption could lead to the collapse of the Party [Communist Party of China] and the downfall of the State [People's Republic of China].” Xi Jinping
“When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.” Queen Elizabeth II “I don't want you to be hopeful, I want you to panic” Greta Thunberg
east vs west relations East vs West relationships in the 21st century are best symbolised by the current interactions between China and the USA. The greatest threat to the western-oriented world order is the rapidly emerging superpower China, whose rise to power is undoubtedly the biggest global geopolitical shift in the 21st century. China, bouncing back from a debilitating century of shame, has grown to become a major international actor, rivalling the USA in relevance and resources. The potential for destructive clashes between the two giants is, at this point in time, unregulated; yet the pair are intimately intertwined on many levels such as trade. If they fail to uphold mutually cooperative relationships, they have the ability to wreak havoc upon each other and upon the entire world, potentially inducing a second era of a Cold War. China and the USA’s relationship has become further strained due to the ubiquitous Covid19 pandemic severely impacting global politics and the world economy. By focusing on the global superpowers of the USA and China and the diplomatic steps each state must take to ensure global peace and prosperity is maintained, we conclude that "A sound China-U.S. cooperation can serve as the ballast for global stability and the propeller for world peace." Stable US and China relations are unlikely to develop overnight. Both powers need to establish diplomatic means to balance an equilibrium of power to ensure world order and peace is maintained to avoid conflict or another period of the cold war. Interaction between the powers cannot be avoided, as their futures are ultimately paralleled. The West must find a way to both understand and accommodate the rising influence of China in the 21st century through its institutions and established political relationships, whilst China also needs to find non-conflicting paths to establish common ground between the powers. Ultimately both sides need to find areas of cooperation in order to ensure a stable global future in their mutual interests. "Sino-U.S. cooperation will achieve things that are beneficial to both countries and the world, while confrontation will be disastrous."
written by gen whitford
