President Donald J. Trump and President Xi Jinping | July 8, 2017 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
The media is fixated on Russia. Negative coverage of President Trump and his relationship to Russia is a staple of most cable news networks. Kenny Xu writes at The Federalist, though, that the real threat is China. Xu explains that despite Russia’s past dominance, China is the major threat to America today. He writes:
Some might make the case that nuclear capacity is one place Russia beats China. It is true: Russia owns 6,800 warheads to China’s 270, mostly leftovers from the Cold War. But how far can an arsenal of nukes take you? Can it solve a stagnant economy, a laughable long-term infrastructure, and a corrupt government? Cold War symbols of power no longer dictate today’s geopolitical climate. At least, they cannot make up for the twin factors of economic competitiveness and technological domination, criteria in which Russia is hopelessly outmatched.
On the other hand, China checks both these boxes, and our ignorance of their ambition and growth is quickly becoming self-destructive. When China was nigh one-twentieth the size of our economy (merely 15 years ago!), we allowed them to illicitly capture our critical trade secrets and defense technologies and run an unchecked trade surplus with us. We ignored them when they weren’t a threat, and now that they are, we can’t afford to ignore them again.
So perhaps the American media should re-evaluate its coverage priorities. It’s time for us to tone down our gaggling over Putin’s newest military exercise, and tune up our attention to Xi’s curled smile and the 1.6 billion motivated Chinese workers behind him. While Russia is hanging onto the vestiges of a bygone era, China is forging a new era—one it intends to lead.
Read more here.
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