Author: Juan Martin González Cabañas – 24/11/2020
This November 19 Vision & Global Trends – International Institute for Global Analyses- was present (in virtual format) through its analysts Zeno Leoni, Juan Martin González Cabañas and Emanuel Pietrobon at the First Latin American congress (summit) of “World Crisis and Geopolitics: Thinking Multipolarism for a New World Order” organized by the CIEPE at the discussion panel on “the rise of China in contemporary world geopolitics”.
Click here for the video of the event
In their joint presentation “strategic continuity – tactical change: the Limits of USA Grand Strategy towards China”Leoni and Cabañas approached the topics of the tension between national and global interests within the framework of the US (grand) strategy.
The vision of both agrees with those of the American neo-realist scholars, in which the overextension of the US foreign commitment has weakened it relatively, but they rather emphasize that the grand US strategy of Liberal Hegemony has contributed to the emergence of systemic rivals, such as China recently. It was argued that the rise of China as a relevant international actor has made this exercise of synthesis between nationalism and globalism an extremely challenging task for the United States because China has become both a partner and an enemy. In particular, the hegemony of the United States is challenged by China’s strategic intertwining between political power and key industries (State-Owned Enterprises). Therefore US political decision makers from Obama to Trump understood that Chinese state capitalism is their main source of power, and therefore a threat. Under this analytical scheme, the differences between the Obama and Trump administrations in their approach to foreign economic policy towards China were demonstrated. Although they adopted radically different tactics, both Obama and Trump pursued similar strategic goals. Obama, however, put more emphasis on multilateralism, while Trump preferred a bilateral and more confrontational approach.
While Pietrobon in his presentation “ChinAmerica: The Inevitable Split” argues that the Sino-American hegemonic confrontation may be the result of elements that go beyond geopolitics, and touch a more intimate sphere and have a deeper origin, namely the very social and legal foundations on which the two countries are based and modeled accordingly shape their worldviews. Assuming the validity of this line of thought, the end of the symbiotic relationship between the two world-largest economies was only a mere matter of time. Indeed, no true strategic partnership can exist between the US, which is politically, culturally and economically liberal and is devoted to the promotion of its system across the globe since the early decades following its independence, and China, whose conception of state role in domestic and world affairs is totally different from the European and American one and is the combination of a millennia-old complex and rich history.
Other articles by Juan Martin González Cabañas published in Vision & Global Trends. International Institute for Global Analyses’ website:
- The world order after the US elections
- SAOCOM 1B: Italy and Argentina partners in outer space
- The slow decline of Catholicism in Latin America
- Latin America – Russia: An Agenda for Constructive Cooperation in the Post-COVID-19 Era
- Synthesis and analysis of the IEES Panorama of geopolitical trends Horizon 2040
- International Relations: a Critical Theory from the South American periphery
- Argentina in the Multipolar Order
- The War for the Web
- Old roads and new paradigms: on the last BRI Summit
- The second return of Marco Polo to Italy
- Huawei case: high tech war, strategic competition, geopolitical tension
- The South American and Venezuelan Uncertain Horizon