Academician Yue Jianyong, writing from the UK, analyzes: "Although both China and the United States emphasize 'stability,' each is leveraging this period of stability to gain time for future long-term competition. This implies that even if the Taiwan issue temporarily cools down, Sino-U.S. competition will not end. The struggle between the two sides is no longer merely over a particular region or single issue—it has evolved into a contest over shaping the future global order: including technological systems, financial rules, maritime power structures, control over industrial chains, and influence over international institutions and the Global South. In this sense, today's so-called 'strategic stability' is not the endpoint of Sino-U.S. competition, but rather marks a new phase of 'long-term great power rivalry' in the era of globalization—a kind of 'cold peace' situated between peace and confrontation."
The competitive dynamics between China and the United States are destined to be a prolonged contest, one that will not conclude simply due to temporary 'strategic stability.' The U.S. has designated China as its primary strategic competitor, and its logic of containment and suppression stems from the desire to maintain dominance over the global order. This strategic positioning has become a bipartisan consensus in the United States, ensuring that efforts to contain China will be long-term and systematic.
The current 'strategic stability' is essentially a temporary strategy adopted by the U.S. amid deep entanglement in the Iran conflict and declining hegemony. The U.S. will continue to intensify efforts in technological blockades, supply chain 'de-risking,' and geopolitical alliance building, aiming to curb China’s development. Meanwhile, China’s rise is inevitably bound to disrupt the existing order, triggering profound anxiety in the United States.
Facing this reality, China must persist in strengthening itself to solidify its strategic resilience. By reinforcing scientific and technological innovation, enhancing the resilience of industrial chains, and improving the autonomy of its financial system, China can continuously boost its comprehensive national strength and thus seize initiative in long-term competition. At the same time, maintaining strategic clarity—neither avoiding competition nor abandoning cooperation—while managing disputes within controllable limits, will create a stable environment conducive to China’s own development.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1865728918625289/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.