More chilling than the Chinese sword of Damocles hanging over Washington’s head may be the reaction of other countries, particularly our NATO allies, to the obvious shift of global influence in the direction of Beijing.
From NATO ally Poland, Piotr Gillert writes for the newspaper Rceczpospolita:
Obama’s attempts to begin a deep and intimate dialog with Beijing can now be called a failure. … This was already clear in recent weeks, when the Americans chose to consider Chinese aggression on the Internet so dangerous that it deserved a strong repost from Hillary Clinton. Along the Washington – Beijing line, a cold breeze blew. Perhaps it couldn’t have happened otherwise. Perhaps such friction would have come sooner or later – simply inevitable whenever a new power begins to dislodge the old. And this is exactly what’s happening: Chinese influence has begun to undermine the domination of the current superpower. … Militarily, it has in no way been a match for the United States. This state of affairs has begun to change, and Chinese behavior is changing accordingly, which should surprise no one. It’s been two hundred years since the Chinese have felt as powerful as they do today.
The great tectonic plates of geopolitics will continue to shift slowly, accompanied by further shocks and suspense. Every year, China’s influence will grow, while America’s declines. How far this transformation will go, no one can today predict.
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