All Engines Firing: How We Can Survive Under American Global Hegemony

All Engines Firing: How We Can Survive Under American Global Hegemony

“There has never been any savior, nor can we rely on gods or emperors.” I suspect that after such a long period of peace, some people have already forgotten the warning contained in words like these. But in truth, war is not far away from us. In human history, stretches of several decades without a large-scale war are actually quite rare, and as for how long this can continue, no one really knows. And even if actual war does not break out, in today’s world, where economics is the dominant force, a war without smoke may be even more frightening than a shooting war fought with real guns and ammunition.

The China–U.S. trade war is only one concentrated expression of weakening economic growth. No one really knows whether the current global economic model can continue to develop sustainably. In fact, humanity has never encountered a situation quite like the one we face now. Whether advances in science and technology can continue to sustain relatively rapid economic growth is actually unknown. And if there are no breakthroughs in fundamental science, then such growth must have limits. So where exactly is that limit? Perhaps we are already very, very close to it.

A considerable part of the rapid economic growth of the past few decades has not really been driven by scientific and technological progress, but by the accumulation of enormous energy consumption. In many respects, technological development has not reached a level that can by itself justify such fast economic growth. Instead, at our current level of science and technology, humanity has relied on the simple and brute-force rapid consumption of energy to maintain high growth. This is not sustainable. Americans may be able to consume an enormous amount of energy per person, but they would never allow every person in the world to consume that much, because at least for now, the total amount of energy is limited. And even if the total amount of energy were not fixed, if humanity continues to burn through energy in such a crude and violent way, the Earth itself would soon be unable to bear it. But our current economic model cannot simply stop. Or rather, it is not that it cannot stop at all, but that if humanity were to switch to another model, it would certainly have to pay an enormous price. As people living in the present, we do not want such a tragedy to happen to ourselves or to the next generation, but no one knows when it might come.

During the years of rapid growth in the past, the major powers of the world did not have too many direct and fundamental contradictions between them, largely because humanity as a whole was still in a period of rapid ascent, and there were still vast areas of the planet left undeveloped. But once that growth approaches its limits, fierce conflict among the great powers will inevitably become more and more obvious. And at present, this world is dominated by American hegemony. Under such circumstances, how should we seek survival?

Any compromise can only ever be a strategy or a tactic. In the final analysis, every country and every nation can rely only on itself; no one else is truly dependable. Therefore, continuing negotiations with the United States may, at the strategic level, prevent more third-party countries from profiting from the struggle between China and the U.S. But this fundamental problem can never be solved through negotiation alone. Instead, we must always maintain a clear understanding of the true nature of American imperialism. “The Chinese nation has reached its most dangerous moment” is not just a line from the national anthem; it is a warning we should carry with us at every moment. As the saying goes, survival comes from vigilance in times of hardship, while comfort leads to decline. No amount of emphasis on this is too much.

In the China–U.S. trade war, we can clearly see our own weaknesses and shortcomings in economic terms. Because of globalization, no country can achieve complete independence in every aspect of its economy. So under current conditions, it is not realistic to say that we can become entirely self-reliant and depend only on ourselves in every respect. But we must recognize that in key areas affecting the national economy and people’s livelihood, strategic planning is absolutely necessary. On the other hand, an economy driven by real estate is bound to be fragile. If the state does not take sufficiently tough measures to curb the distorted development of the real estate sector, then any economic support measures will ultimately fail. And if our economy continues to run at such low efficiency and cannot go all out, then the China–U.S. trade war will become another Sino-Japanese War of 1894, and the Beiyang Fleet will inevitably be annihilated.

If the Americans dare to tear off their disguise so openly and wage a trade war against us, they must be well prepared and holding plenty of cards in their hand. But much of our own high-speed economic growth has come from the bubble in real estate. If our economic structure does not undergo a fundamental transformation, then even if negotiations make phased progress today, tomorrow the Americans will still use the same issue to choke us.

As individuals, we have no way to make major decisions or exert large-scale influence over the whole situation. But today, the idea that every person bears responsibility for the fate of the nation is more concrete than ever before; it is not an empty slogan. This is because, in today’s globalized economy, individual destinies are tightly bound to the nation and to the world economy. Therefore, when faced with a severe direct confrontation like the China–U.S. trade war, the impact on individuals may rival that of another War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, and may even be greater than that war’s impact on China. At that time, there was no globalized economy. We were backward in many ways, but we still had to rely on ourselves. Today, however, it is already impossible to return to that condition.

In an earlier article, I quoted from a piece called How Do We Survive the Winter During an Economic Downturn? The advice in it was excellent. So under the present circumstances, I strongly recommend that everyone read that book and learn how individuals can survive in times of economic decline. But more important than any method of survival is often the will to survive. At such a critical moment, with the world in flux, I believe every person should go all engines firing, so that together we can keep the great ship of China moving forward.