Comparing China and USA 1

Comparing the United States and China

Chinese leaders are students of world history. They study the rise and fall of the great powers. They
learn from the failures of the great powers and try to avoid repeating them. And they also learn the
strategies of the great powers that made them successful and try to replicate these to attain the short-
and long-term goals of China. To illustrate this is to make a comparison of the strategies adopted by
America, the world’s largest economy and China, the world’s second largest economy.

The following is a summary of Kissinger’s (2012) comparison of the two states.

America secured its independence by adopting an isolationist foreign policy. Through the Monroe
Doctrine, America declared that no European power should reestablish its foothold on American land.
This was to secure in particular the Caribbean region, from Mexico to Venezuela including the small
islands that dotted the Caribbean Sea, which is geographically close to the United States and crucial to
its national security. This was America’s maritime extension it was willing to defend at that time when its
growing economy was surpassing Britain in the Caribbean region. Though America declared the Monroe
Doctrine, America and the British Royal Navy jointly patrolled the Caribbean region as it was a critical
trade route that linked America to the Atlantic Ocean and then Europe. Both states were major trading
partners.

Centuries later, the South China Sea, roughly the size of the Caribbean region, will be declared by China
as its maritime extension through its so-called nine-dash line. Though this nine-dash line was declared in
the 1940s, it was revived by the Chinese leaders when China became the fastest growing economy in the
region. The geographical proximity of the South China Sea to China makes it vital to its growing economy
and national security as the Caribbean was to the United States. The South China Sea is part of the
international trade route – it connects the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

As Britain did not challenge America as it was willing to defend its maritime extension, the United States
is also careful not to openly challenge China in the South China Sea.

As America, through the Roosevelt’s policy aimed to eliminate Europe from the New World, the
elimination of American dominance in the region is China’s long-term goal.

In the Roosevelt’s policy, America had three aims. These are to eject Europe from the American
hemisphere, to move closer to Europe politically, and to temper American power with deeper
understanding of the sensitivities of the Latin American people. China, on the other hand, aims to
weaken American involvement in the South China Sea while maintaining cordial, political and economic
relations with the United States being its biggest trading partner, and to temper China’s own power
through a greater appreciation of the problems and peoples of Southeast Asia. This is done through
loans, investments, bilateral talks, and participation in ASEAN talks.

When America expanded from 13 to 50 states, this was guided by the American myth of Manifest
Destiny which was achieved through annexation or purchase of the westward territories. China similarly
revived its myth of the being the Middle Kingdom of the ancient world. In the ancient world, leaders of
different territories paid tribute to the Chinese emperor in exchange of the right to trade with China and
also for their protection. That was the time when the early emperors thought of themselves as rulers of
the world and that there is none under the heaven that is not the king’s land. You can relate this myth to
China’s claim over the South China Sea.
 Comparing China and USA 2

Through the years when America became a superpower, it would interfere only in the last resort.
America’s intervention is always grounded on the need to protect its interests in any part of the world.
And the three areas that the United States does not want to be dominated by any great power are
Persian Gulf, Northeast Asia, and the South China Sea. America, particularly during the Cold War (1945-
1989) was guilty of CIA-supported coups against nationalist or socialist leaders. China is also willing to
intervene anywhere in the world when its centrality is challenged like what it did when it kicked out the
Vietnamese troops from the Paracels Island which Vietnam is claiming in the South China Sea.

America constructed the Panama Canal to shorten the distance of travel from the Caribbean to the
Pacific Ocean which was good for American trade. China, on the other hand, funded the construction of
oil pipelines from the shore of Pakistan to China, from the shore of Myanmar to China, from Russia to
China, and from Central Asia to China. China is also interested in Russia’s on-going project of breaking
the ice in the Arctic Circle along Siberia to make it navigable for the entire year. At present, said area is
navigated by Chinese vessels from the month of July to November as it is a shorter route to the North
Sea and Europe in contrast to the South China Sea – Indian Ocean – Suez Canal – Mediterranean Sea –
North Sea route. All of these initiatives are good for China’s trade.

Through the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, America sustained its Dollar Diplomacy –
extending loans to recipients and using conditions or structural adjustment programs to indirectly
control the economies of indebted countries. Recently, China put up its Asian Infrastructure and
Investment Bank (AIIB) that is focused on investments in physical infrastructure. Consequently, big
Chinese construction firms are doing physical infrastructure projects funded by an AIIB loan in different
countries. Even before the AIIB, China had been lending money to poor countries in Asia, Latin America,
and Africa. China is the largest foreign aid giver in Africa enabling China to access the mineral and
agricultural lands as well as the consumer markets of the African recipient states. The biggest story
among China’s debtors is Sri Lanka that borrowed money from China for the construction of its second
international port. This was constructed by a Chinese construction firm that brought in its Chinese
construction workers. Due to its inability to pay its debt, Sri Lanka agreed that China will manage the
port for 99 years. Indebtedness pushed Sri Lanka to sacrifice its patrimonial asset. A similar situation
happened in Tajikistan where 1,000 square kilometers of mineral land was ceded to China in exchange
of waiving Tajikistan’s debts in the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars. This is also a case of
sacrificing the state’s patrimonial asset.

Right after World War II, America offered to its trade partners the American security umbrella. At that
time, America’s growth as a world naval power was guided by Alfred Thayer Mahan’s statement that “he
who controls the seas controls the world.” The security umbrella of America was therefore realized
through the deployment of its military bases in the territories of its allies that are located along the
important trade routes and the deployment of its naval fleet in all the seas and oceans. America sealed
its leadership in world politics and world economy even at the time that it was competing with the
former Soviet Union.

China, on the other hand, is no match yet to America’s world naval presence but it is investing much in
the building of more naval vessels and submarines that are deployed primarily in the South China Sea
and East China Sea. China seems to have reinterpreted Halford Mackinder’s theory that he who controls
the heartland controls the world island; he who controls the world island controls the world. The
heartland in the theory is Europe but for China, the heartland is China being the Middle Kingdom of the
ancient world and now being the second largest economy. The world island is the connected continents
 Comparing China and USA 3

of Asia, Europe, and Africa. This could be appreciated better if you look at how China is connecting its
economy to the economies of the different states in the world island – extending loans to Africa, loans
to Central Asia for the construction of railways that connect them to China, the target project of
constructing a railway that will connect China to Central Asia, to Moscow and then Frankfurt Germany.
Look at the map and you can see the varied economies that can be accessed by China. Include those
pipelines that were constructed in the nearby Asian countries and the railway that is targeted to connect
Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos to China. All of these are part of what you often read
about – the Belt Road Initiatives or new silk roads. China also had its string of pearls – referring to
China’s presence in certain ports along an important trade route. These are the port facilities it is renting
from Myanmar, the port it is managing in Sri Lanka, and its access to the port of Pakistan that makes the
Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf very accessible. This string of pearls is important in what China calls the
maritime silk road that extends to Africa.

The given comparison shall be considered as you try to review the material on the demographic problem
of China. How could its military preparedness be affected by its demographic problems? Then as you
read the demographic trend in America, you also ask yourself how the demographic trend in America as
well as its so-called exceptionalism affect its status as a world power, and in particular, its military
presence in the Asia-Pacific region.