In a commentary published on Tuesday, Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, stressed that the relationship between the western world and China can be managed, and that the western world, including the United States, should find the right way to achieve that goal.
China is becoming the world’s second superpower because of its rising economic and political power, according to Wolf. The United States must face the fact that its overall GDP will eventually be greatly surpassed by China. He says that one indicator of this is that China has become the leading destination for the exports of a growing number of major economies rather than the United States.
Wolf also says that the United States should make more of an effort to deal with its own problems, including the lasting impact of the financial crisis, instead of trying to contain China’s development by launching trade wars. In his view, the two superpowers should maintain a cooperative relationship, because their development is substantially intertwined. If they don’t, not only will the two countries suffer; a breakdown in this important relationship would greatly affect the global economy.
Martin Wolf added that protecting intellectual property is not an appropriate excuse for the United States to launch the trade war, pointing to the time during the 19th century when the United States took advantage of advanced ideas from other countries. He says that the United States will not be able to stop China from innovating its way to prosperity.
