By Rana Danish Nisar
The dawn of the 21st Century tells the new romance of competition among the USA and People’s Republic of China. After the collapse of the USSR, the Global Power politics had shifted from bi-polar to unipolar and the US had declared itself a sole superpower of global power politics.
The international relations academia were busy while discussion of multiple philosophies i.e. clash of civilization, end of history, causes of fall of USSR, new world order, shifting of power in this time but on the other side another competitor was busy with the aim to grow-up economy, military build-up, bourgeoning influence from region to globe and call this all progress as “Peaceful Rise”. On the contrary, in his book titled “The tragedy of great power politics: the forefather of the Offensive Realist School of Thought name “John Mearsheimer” alerts the west regarding the rise of a silent rival (China) as peer-competitor of the USA in the upcoming decades. He argued that the “Rise of China” is not peaceful.
According to the realist school, China is following the same gestures as the USA was adopted in her early ages of growth. The pundits, subject specialists, and security gurus of the globe take China as revisionist power and they argue that the tussle between China and the USA is coming to happen. The classical realist school of thought takes human nature as unitary, selfish, egoistic, betray, grass and conceited actors by following self-interests and relating it with state’s nature. The maximization of power (economic, military, political, diplomatic), betray and deceive the other ones are rooted in the state’s self-interests (DNA).
The neo-realism either defensive or offensive follows the same characteristics but not only limited to nature but also discusses the structure of the world and takes it as anarchic and lack of super-policeman. Apart from the existence of liberal/ideal school of thoughts with the promotion of peace, inaugurations of organizations, peace treaties, peace agreements, the rivalries, conflicts and competitions are investable and the lively examples are the Russian invasion on Ukraine, India’s illegally occupied Kashmir etc.
In contemporary international relations debates, the USA and China and their rivalry is a red-hot topic. The present piece of writing will highlight the statistics and comparison of the military force of two rivals of today’s power politics giants.
Since the end of World War II, apart from the massive burden on the economy, states have been intensively busy increasing their nuclear deterrence against their arch-rivals. Somehow, it creates a security dilemma vis-à-vis each other. With the threshold of twenty first century and introduction of non-kinetic warfare tools and arms, the characteristics of deterrence now has been changed from kinetic to non-kinetic because after the covid-19 crisis, the economy of the states is unable to bear the burden of nuclear stockpiles on their preserve and safety. Now, states are searching for other tools of deterrence. The following figure highlights the downfalls of nuclear stockpiles.
Along with all counter measures and changing meaning of threats, conflicts and security challenges, the nuclear threats are inevitable and still exist. Reciprocally, all nuclear “have” states have a serious threats vis-à-vis from their rivals i.e. China VS USA, USA VS North Korea, India VS Pakistan, India VS China, USA VS Russia, Israel VS Iran etc. the following table and figure have the right to show the missile force and range of People’s Republic of China which have capabilities to carry nuclear warheads.
Dr. Ali argues that in this contemporary complex of global real politics, the real existence of liberal school of thought seems a little bit difficult. He argues that the bloody conflicts are still happening in the world and the global peace promoter organizations and institutions under liberal school are quite and keep smiling over bloody wars and conflicts i.e. Russian attack on Ukraine and Indian illegal occupied Kashmir. Thus, states always have security threats regarding their existence and sovereignty. With the rapid Chinese advancement in militarization and increasing defense force for the defense purpose, consequently, the USA is also increasing its military force as compared to China. The table below highlights the USA nuclear force power correctly.
There is no doubt that the Pentagon is now taking China as a peer competitor of the USA and its global supremacy and hegemony, Dr. Ali argues. On the contrary, some security specialists do argue that there is no comparison between China and the USA. In fact, the USA may have some mixture of intentions i.e. offensive and defensive while dealing with China on the global front. On the other hand, China acts as a very sensible and mature player of the global political wardrobe. Without any doubt and confusion, China is now the super economic power of the globe and really not interested in any lively conflict with any global and regional player. The Galwan valley conflict among India and China is the lively example of Chinese defensive approach. As per military comparison, China has much power as compared to India but China did prefer to avoid any bloody skirmish with India. In his writing, Raul Amoros argued and visualized the growth of Chinese economic power and declared China as the fittest economy of 55.1 trillion $ near to 2036. The following figure shows the exact reality.
During the previous days, China has been engaging to build-up electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons. According to Pratyaksha Mitra, she argues that it is possible that China can do an EMP attack on the USA because China takes the USA missile sites as a major threat for Chinese security and survival. The following picture highlights the American nuclear sites which have main focus towards China.
Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-warns-us-allies-no-nuclear-missiles-in-our-backyard-5qb58mbnk
The USA and China relations have strained over the decade and Chinese defense force is reciprocally understanding by the USA as offensives motives. The USA takes China as revisionist state and consequently China takes the USA as global monopoly-Mafia, Dr. Ali argues. He says that according to China, every sovereign state on earth has the right to ensure its existence and secure survival without interference from other states either the neighboring country or major power. The characteristics of global politics have changed now and transition has occurred from Unipolar to multipolar. The world should be harmonious according to Chinese whitepaper but the Chinese rapid military upgrade gestures give another intention to the globe, Dr. Ali argues. According to some security specialists, china is busy to make sure the availability of Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) weapons. According to them EMP attacks could be more dangerous as compare to other conventional and non-conventional attacks. Reciprocally, the USA has made “CHAMP” missile with Electromagnetic pulse power which has capability to making unworkable enemies missile system, radars, electricity power plants, military bases and all defense & security system. According to British daily which is mentioned in Third World War forum that the USA has been deployed 20 “Champ” all over the globe aim to protect national security and interests.
Towards the concluding remarks, the world has already faced two catastrophic disaster i.e. WWI & WWII and can’t afford the third one. The USA and China, both are major powers of global politics and both are sensible & responsible stakeholders. Without any serious skirmishes, both states should avoid their divergences and promote mutual understanding. They should focus on the problems which are facing by humanity now-a-days. Apart from the egoistic and conceited behavior, both states should promote peace.
Rana Danish Nisar – The author is a PhD (International Relations) Student at the School of Politics and International Studies (SPIS). He holds Mphil in (International Relations), Masters in (Pakistan Studies), and Masters in (International Relations) degrees. He won acceptance Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations HPAIR (USA), 2017. His research interests are broadly in South Asian Affairs, South Asia Geo-Politics, India-Pakistan Relations, South Asian Nuclear Politics, US and South Asia, Indian Ocean, Security studies, South Asian developments studies.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).