In the past decade, the world has watched the cooperation between China and the United States from you and me, slowly becoming a game that you push me.
Military, science and technology, finance, diplomacy, the United States has used almost all means to suppress China's rising momentum. but the problem lies in front of the eye: for so many years of encroachment, pressure, sanctions, China has not been dragged, but on the contrary, more and more stable, more and more low.
A British strategist used a very vivid sentence to sum up the competition-China is playing Go, and the United States is playing chess.
It sounds like two games, but in fact breaks the strategic differences behind China and the United States. One is the layout, the patience; the other is the pursuit of speed, the attack. This fundamentally different way of thinking is the key to determining the direction of the game.
Two ways of playing, two ways of thinking
To say why China has not been suppressed by the United States, we must first look at the two countries' outline.The United States is used to fast pace, the goal is also clear, is to push the opponent through a series of actions.
This method does have an impact in a short time, catching opponents off guard, and it is easy to create topics. But the problem is that this style of play relies too much on the immediate effect and lacks long-term consistency.
After a shot, where is the next shot? the resources are not enough? support or not to follow up? these questions the United States often doesn't take care of.
China is different on this side. Its pace is slow, but every step is slow. Never rush to fight for a city to a place, but focus on the whole pattern.
Just like Go, you may not see the advantage at first, but you lay it down step by step, and finally you find that the whole chessboard has been framed. This kind of strategic thinking is about endurance and long-term, not afraid of short-term fluctuations, nor is it frightened by immediate difficulties.
The United States often cannot understand China's style of play. For example, the United States did not take some of the cooperation projects promoted by China internationally seriously at first, believing that they were just infrastructure and business operations without any threat.
But later it was discovered that these seemingly inconspicuous actions slowly drew many countries into China's circle of friends. This kind of change cannot be achieved through one or two meetings. It is a pattern achieved through a little accumulation, time for space, and steady progress.
Fundamentally speaking, the strategic anxiety of the United States is caused by its own fast pace, scattered resources and too many goals. It wants to control the rhythm in every corner of the world, but the reality is that it can't do it. China starts from where it can control, expands step by step, is not in a hurry or impatience, and the rhythm is always in its own hands.
America’s anxiety wasn’t formed in a day.
Why is the United States in such a hurry? Actually, the reason is very simple. In its view, it is used to being the world leader, and anything that may challenge its position is regarded as a threat.
The rise of China is not just as simple as economic development, but also a real impact on the United States 'global dominance. Especially after entering the 21st century, China's development speed, scientific and technological progress and expansion of international influence have made the United States feel unprecedented pressure.
So, the United States began to adjust the policy towards China, from the earliest contact, cooperation, slowly turned into prevention, repression. can be said, the whole set of strategies against China, from trade, science and technology to military, diplomacy, almost no field is relaxed.
The U.S. is not only facing China in one direction, it is also responding to the demands from Europe, dealing with the conflict in the Middle East,ining NATO's unity, and dealing with more and more domestic difficulties.
More embarrassingly, the United States thinks its allies will stand as long as they make their own efforts, but the reality is not that simple.
Many countries are reluctant to be forced to stand aside when facing the two major Chinese and American economies and are more concerned with opportunities for development than with one side to confront the other.
This also discounted the United States' plan to circumvent China by pulling allies, using too much force instead of reversal.
Moreover, China did not follow the script envisioned by the United States. Faced with pressure, China stabilizes domestic cooperation on the one hand and expands external cooperation on the other.
Especially in many key areas, China has slowly turned the previously passive situation into an active situation through long-term investment and independent research and development.
In the past it was what the United States was saying, what the world was listening to; now it is the United States that is shouting, and many countries are watching what China is saying.
The more urgent the U.S. is, the more stable China is. The more urgent the more likely it is to go wrong, the more stable the more clear the direction can be seen.
China is the greatest victory.
In this unseen amount of smoke, China's biggest advantage is not the weapons equipment that everyone can see or the technological breakthroughs, but the stability.
This stability is not the surface immobility, but the inner sense of rhythm, the ability to grasp the global situation. faced with external pressure, China does not blindly move, nor give up, but instead choose to continue to do its own thing, go its own way.
In the face of external challenges, for example, China has not reacted, but has turned short-term disadvantages into long-term exercises by adjusting policies, optimizing structures, and expanding cooperation.
Many times, others think that China is forced to the corner of the wall, and as a result, China opens a window behind the wall.
The United States wants to win over China, but it is not without opportunities. But it must first learn to slow down and see the direction clearly, instead of blindly relying on suppression to solve problems.
If it always regards China as an opponent to be defeated, then this game will never get out of the dead end of "zero-sum". But the problem is that the strategic system and political atmosphere of the United States have been difficult to accept the thinking of "taking a step back".
It’s better at winning, but this logic, in today’s increasingly polarized world, is no longer useful.
A large part of the reason why China can continue to go on steadily is that it is not eager for success, nor is it superstitious about some kind of absolute victory.
It believes in long-term accumulation, believes in relationships that are slowly operated, believes in patterns that are step by step developed.
From this perspective, the problem of the United States is not that it loses to China, but that it is too anxious to lose. It wants to solve problems quickly, but it doesn't realize that some problems just can't be urgent, and the more urgent it is, the more wrong it is.
China's strategy is not to win, but to keep itself in an unbeaten position. This is the clever way to do it.
Chess has already been played
If this is a game, many people may still be waiting to see who wins. But people who understand chess know that some chess games actually have their direction seen in the middle of the game.
China relies on patience and layout, America relies on shock and rhythm. One wants to win beautifully, one wants to be stable.
The world today is no longer the age of one-handed victory. who can stabilize himself, who can win time. and China, is based on this stability, slowly out of its own rhythm.
America wants to win, not just to become stronger, but to learn to change its minds.
The game is still down, but the direction towards the office is becoming more and more clear.