Highest Ever Trade Despite Cold War: Who Are US And China Trying To Fool?

—Nadim

March 15, 2023:

There’s an old saying whose origin is contested.

It is often inconclusively credited to Abraham Lincoln. It goes like this: you can fool all the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Recently, the governments in charge of servicing the two biggest autocratic empires of our times, China and America, emphatically proved the adage wrong.

With the release of the latest data of the two hegemonic countries’ bilateral trade, it emerges that they can actually fool all the people all the time.

How? Well, international politics is the only field under the sun in which you can fight a nuclear war with your opponent under the portico and exchange a big wet kiss in the backyard that same evening –and yet, nobody will notice the double standards. That’s precisely what Beijing and Washington, DC are pulling off, right before our eyes.

Thanks to the latest trade data dished out to us by the US, the world was stunned to learn that America’s bilateral trade with China skyrocketed to an all-time high during 2022. The world was stunned because these two countries have literally been at war – or so it seems.

The Contradictions

On one hand, there’s a intense Cold War raging between the two geopolitical giants over the past few years. Hong Kong, Taiwan, tariffs, South China Sea, Russia ties, silicon chips, North Korea, Wuhan biolab, 5G, and now surveillance balloons – there’s hardly any field left in which the two governments have yet to come to blows.

But when it comes to bilateral trade, it’s the opposite story. For all the fiery talk from motormouth American presidents in recent years, the two empires are passionately locked in an eternal embrace, dancing merrily under the sparkling chandelier of global geopolitics.

Official data shows that imports and exports between the two nations were an eye-popping $690.6 billion in 2022. According to the latest figures, US imports from China shot up to a gigantic $536.8 billion in 2022, which was made possible by American buyers who’re happy to purchase Chinese goods, especially tonnes and tonnes of smartphones, other electronic gadgets, and toys. During the same year, China imported goods from the US worth $153.8 billion, thanks to many Chinese shoppers’ love for buying anything and everything American.

Here’s a simple question. If these two hawks are indeed at war with each other, how on earth are they helping each other’s exports boom – right at the time of their greatest enmity?

Are the two governments out of sync with the current equations running the world of big business? Are powerful business families and giant corporations from China and America defying geopolitical tensions and sealing backdoor deals they shouldn’t be sealing?

Are diplomacy and business completely detached from each other, but which the public aren’t supposed to figure out due to some hidden agenda? If so, what’s the hidden agenda and who does it serve?

Or is it something that’s far more complex than what we’re allowed to see? Are there multiple Americas and multiple Chinas, where businesses sleep tight together, while diplomats and military bosses take the attention away with hollow talk of rivalry?

Whatever the truth is, there’s a gaping hole in this big, fat story of US-China bittersweet relations. Take a pause and think back about what the mainstream media has been spoon-feeding you for the past few days, keeping you engaged, engrossed, and entertained.

A clumsy Chinese surveillance balloon gets caught out like a sitting duck (a flying one, actually) as Pentagon spots it stupidly sailing over Montana, a state that otherwise never makes it to the headlines. The US valiantly shoots down the silly little balloon, and the poker-faced US secretary of state’s lavish trip to China gets jacked.

Seeing this geopolitical soap opera bursting out of television sets, people around the world wonder –this is it, the line has been crossed, the Cold War will now break out into a military fight.

Just as this drama balloons to a climax, the two friendly foes reveal that they are driving up each other’s exports at a pace never seen before.

WHAT’S THEIR HIDDEN AGENDA?

Who are they trying to fool, really? What’s the missing piece of the puzzle?

On second thoughts, are we actually staring at ‘Chimerica’ – which it now appears is no longer an imagined concept. The term Chimerica is a portmanteau that US-based historian Niall Ferguson and German economist Moritz Schularick created to define China and America’s shapechanging relationship.

Now, here’s the thing about the origin of the word Chimerica, which sounds quite like Chimera. Greek mythology teaches us that Chimera was a hybrid monster that breathed fire. The creature’s shape comprised various animal parts. While Chimera resembled a lion’s body, it had a goat’s head popping up from its back, and its tail had an ominous-looking snake’s head at the end.

Tongue in cheek, add the proverbial Chinese dragon to this deceptive monster’s portfolio, and Chimera becomes Chimerica – a hybrid beast we’re currently unable to make sense of! A hybrid beast that’s fooling all the people, all the time.

typically modern city – a road network choked with traffic, escalating growth of slums in nooks and corners resulting from surrounding rural distress, poor sanitation for low-income neighbourhoods, exploding population, overdose of consumerist lifestyles through an infectious spread of giant shopping malls, and worsening hyperlocal climate conditions impacting snowfall cycles.

Compared to the look-and-feel of cities in richer countries, most Indian cities are in a state of complete civilisational mess as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with the fast-escalating slum problem gripping urban habitations in almost every state.

Human Rights

In fact, the springing up of new slums across Indian cities accelerated after the Covid-19 lockdowns, which hit the financial well-being of many of the city folks as well as the rural population. It is an escalating urban distress that’s hardly reported by the mainstream media in holistic terms and beyond the narrow, agenda-driven lens of politics.

Many of the urban centres are part of the 100 Smart Cities Project are now hubs of massive, putrid-smelling slums, where residing is an

(from page 05)

Similar strikes and marches took place on January 31, February 7, 11, and 16, with a huge number of people participating, making the current anti-government protests the most intense in France in recent years.

Trade unions trashed the proposed reforms, calling them a threat to the French working class’s hard-fought rights, and suggested the government tax the rich or ask employers to increase their contributions to fund the pension system.

Nathan Arsac, a 19-year-old student and member of the UNEF union, said, “I’m afraid of what’s going to happen next. Losing our social achievements could happen so fast. I’m scared of the future when I’ll be older and have to retire.”

Macron Unmoved

Opinion polls show a substantial majority of the French people were opposed to the government’s pension plans. However, neither the countrywide protests nor the negative opinion polls could make the government rethink the new plan, with President Emmanuel Macron saying, “People know that yes, on average, you have to work a unacknowledged human rights violation in terms of a lack of basic facilities and attention.

Research done by the news outlet Down to Earth focuses on this point. The study revealed that 27 smart cities have proposed 41 slum redevelopment projects. The research brought out chilling statistics about urban living in India.

• Slums are so common that they’re found in 65% of Indian towns.

• Every sixth urban Indian resides in slums unfit for human habitation.

• 1.2 million slum households in India drink untreated tap water

• 63% slum households in India are either without a drainage connection or are connected to open drains

A major reason behind the ballooning slums and shanties, both in numbers and size, lies in a freefall that has gripped the farming sector and villages, forcing the rural population to escape (read: migrate) to the cities, where the central and state governments don’t give them a life beyond temporary relief.

CHERRY-PICKED DEVELOPMENT

There is a fear that the area-based development model provisions for funds to be spent mainly on little longer, all of them, because otherwise we won’t be able to finance our pensions properly.”

“The proposed changes would create more wealth for the country because we will have more hours worked,” said Macron, who is often seen as one of the faces of 21st-century neoliberalism. In his first term, Macron reduced corporate taxes, made hiring-and-firing easier, and claiming benefits became harder for the unemployed class. The new pension plan was central to his campaign promise ahead of the second term.

In an audacious show of his servility to the neoliberal cause, the 45-year-old president is even ready to cosy up to the conservative Republican Party to push the Bill through in parliament as his centrist alliance lost its parliamentary majority last year, though it is still the largest group.

Critics point out that the proposed changes deny the people a vital social security instrument, while the two extra working years would make life tougher for the aging generation who deserve to rest after spending decades slogging for a living.

It has also been pointed out that the measures curtail employment opportunities for developing only small parcels of land in upmarket cities, thereby sparking deeper inequality in the country.

According to the government, “Area-based development will transform existing areas (retrofit and redevelop), including slums, into better planned ones, thereby improving livability of the whole city. New areas (greenfield) will be developed around cities in order to accommodate the expanding population in urban areas.”

Though on an average, the area-based development proposals and projects corner up to 80% of the funds, they’re concentrated only on 5-10% of the city area, eventually turning the initiative into a project only for the elites.

For example, in West Bengal, the selected area under the mission is New Town, a breathy, wellplanned township in the northeast fringes of Kolkata and inhabited by the upper-middle and upper classes. Instead, it would’ve been more worthwhile had the national project focused on addressing the chaos, congestion, and traffic woes in the heart of Kolkata.

An analysis of the SCM by Delhi-based NGO HLRN (Housing and Land Rights Network) noted that there’s no emphasis on inclusion and social justice when it comes to planning Smart Cities.

(from page 04) vaccine safety are spreading conspiracy theories, but just 15% of the unvaccinated share that belief. About 69% of those who haven’t gotten the Covid19 vaccine think there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the safety of Covid-19 vaccines, as do 40% of those who have gotten vaccinated against the virus.

Democrats Vs Republicans

More Democrats (85%) than Republicans (63%) or those not affiliated with either major party (64%) have been vaccinated against Covid-19. More Republicans (60%) than Democrats (44%) or the unaffiliated (43%) think there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the safety of Covid-19 vaccines. However, there is less political difference in the number who suspect someone they know might have died from vaccine side effects – 33% of Democrats and 26% of both Republicans and the unaffiliated.

About 46% of whites, 48% of blacks and 57% of other minorities believe it is at least somewhat likely that side effects of Covid-19 vaccines have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths.

the youth, with France’s unemployed population rising up to around 22 lakh at the end of last year, according to the latest figures released by the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies. Also, the unemployment rate stands at 7.2% of the active population – which is more than double that of Karnataka (3.4%).

French Economy On Edge

While there’s no data on the losses suffered due to the disruptions, such serial strikes and unrest can have a bearing on the French economy, which is still recovering from the ill-effects of Covid-19 and especially lockdowns at a time of soaring inflation.

“The mission is being advertised as a strong investment opportunity for foreign governments, MNCs, and the Indian corporate sector. However, the slow rate of investment and inability of cities to mobilise the required funds reveal the limits of overly relying on the private sector,” the HLRN wrote in the report titled: ‘India’s Smart Cities Mission: Smart for Whom? Cities for Whom?’

“Moreover, the undemocratic powers conferred on SPVs and the predominant role of the corporate sector bring to light dangerous trends of privatisation of governance and corporatisation of Indian cities,” the report said.

According to another HLRN report, an estimated 22,630 people had been evicted due to infrastructure development under the SCM between 2017 and 2019.

India’s ‘Smart Cities’ are dwarfed by slums and perpetual urban mismanagement. To make the project indeed come true, a meaningful involvement of ground-level activists and citizens’ representatives from different strata of life is required. Instead, there’s an over-reliance on experts, technical persons, and marketing stunts that are snuffing out chances of an inclusive and utilitarian approach in making India’s cities more livable.

Younger Americans are less likely to be vaccinated against Covid-19, and 35% of adults under 40 believe someone they know personally might have died from vaccine side effects, compared to 28% of those 40-64 and just 14% of Americans 65 and older.

Slightly more men (52%) than women (47%) think it is at least somewhat likely that a significant number of unexplained deaths may have been caused by side effects of Covid-19 vaccines.

Married adults are more likely to be vaccinated against Covid-19 than their unmarried peers, but more married (33%) than unmarried (23%) Americans think someone they know personally might have died from vaccine side effects.

Voters with annual incomes below $30,000 are most likely to think there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the safety of Covid-19 vaccines, while those with incomes above $200,000 are most likely to believe people who worry about vaccine safety are spreading conspiracy theories. A majority of Americans think Covid-19 vaccines are effective, but have concerns about side effects.

Webber agrees, saying, “The strikes or protests are highly disruptive because they are heavily concentrated in the public services, especially public transport, but they are normally fairly brief.”

The situation in France is volatile, but it sounds incredible because the mainstream media isn’t covering the protests as a societal failure. Influential media outlets and international news agencies have been portraying these protests as routine demonstrations, trying hard not to let the world know that France – for all its big talk about values and democracy – isn’t a big fan of workers’ rights.

However, with the confrontation set to intensify in the weeks and months to come, things may spiral out of control any day, further compromising France’s grandstanding on human rights and freedom.