In January 2011, the then United States President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao issued a joint statement at the end of Hu’s visit to Washington. It announced their joint commitment to a future ‘positive, cooperative, and comprehensive US- China relationship.’ Both reinforced a desire for a prosperous China and the United States. Following the meeting, both governments exchanged ideas and plans for economic issues and more open communication.
But the arrival of President Trump in the White House came as the relationship was cooling off. Xi Jinping had succeeded Hu Jintao in 2013 and his administration came with a strong more aggressive approach to foreign policy. Likewise, President Trump announced a strategy of ‘America First’ and alleged that China was constantly making cyberattacks on the US, was a threat to peace and accused Beijing of being the source of Covid-19, and dubbed the disease the ‘China virus’. China’s military build-up is not an exceptional phenomenon. Strong growth in domestic economies often sees a parallel increase in defence spending. The West currently treats every advance in Chinese military capabilities as a hostile act adding to the endless series of disputes over a ‘so- called’ arms race. China’s expansion has historically been achieved by slow osmosis rather than conquest, or by the conversion to the Chinese culture through conquest adding their territory to the Chinese domain. But today there is dear evidence of that China is in a rush to achieve its aim of a super-powerful dominant world leader within the next few years.
Taiwan sits under the shadow of Beijing’s military force and constantly fears an assault to secure re-unification with the mainland. The Philippines
