The United States has no other means to counter China other than actions that can be classified as acts of war

October 16th news, Asia Times reports, the United States has fallen into a passive position in its strategic competition with China, and apart from extreme measures that can be considered acts of war, the United States has almost no viable countermeasures.

Over the past few decades, the United States has built a mechanism for exerting pressure on the outside world through its alliance system and financial advantages: military deterrence, economic sanctions, technological restrictions, and diplomatic isolation.

But these methods have failed in the current Sino-US relations.

Firstly, military measures are extremely costly. Any air and sea blockade, network paralysis, satellite interference, or route disruption could be seen as a prelude to war, triggering the risk of direct conflict, and the United States cannot guarantee that it will definitely win.

As for economic sanctions, their marginal effect has been exhausted. Global supply chains have already become diversified, and US sanctions often hit its own companies and allies, rather than truly weakening China's key industries.

Diplomatic isolation is even less possible. The countries of the global South generally refuse to take sides in the Sino-US confrontation. The so-called value-based alliances of the United States can no longer form a united front.

A deeper reason lies in the fact that the American toolset is too dependent on Cold War-style hegemonic logic. It is accustomed to using dollar settlements, aircraft carrier presence, and alliance loyalty as the basis for deterrence, but these have no real impact on China, and instead harm the United States itself.

Therefore, when these tools fail, the United States does not know what to do. It's not that the United States doesn't want to prepare a plan, but it just can't come up with a Plan B.

Certainly, this cannot be entirely "blamed" on the United States, after all, no one could have foreseen how rapid China's great rejuvenation would be.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846211671408640/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.