CHINA'S QUIET COLD WAR AGAINST U.S.

CHINA'S QUIET COLD WAR AGAINST U.S.

A top Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) expert said that China is waging a "quiet kind of cold war" against the United States trying its resources to overtake America and to become a leading power in the world. China has given the world a choice by asking the global leaders to choose between China's president Xi Jinping's global outlook and that of US President Donald Trump's "self-centres America First Policy which has lead to anxiety between both allies and the broader world.

US President, Donald Trump has announced a new package of trade tariffs targeting China and South Korea. Mr Trump has imposed tariffs on imported solar-energy components and large washing machines last week in a law to china's export market. U.S. has imposed tariffs on $34bn of chinese goods on 6 July and it intends to target another $200 billion of additional products. Mr Trump said that more than $500 billion worth could be hit.

The interesting thing to note is that the U.S. buys nearly four time as much from China as it sells to them. So, China has limited room to retaliate through trade and there are probably 6 ways by which China could retaliate in a trade war as Mr Xi in his speech in October last year revealed that they aim to become the world's biggest superpower within the next 30 years.

The 6 ways are:

1. By Taking Action Against US Companies -
China could make life difficult for US companies by slowing down customs clearance for their imports, delaying or denying visa applications or using health and safety checks as a way of temporarily shutting down as firm's operations.

2. By Restricting Tourism to the US - 
More than 130 million people travelled out of China in 2016 and those tourists spent around $260 billion that year. The destinations of those tourists included US. China's restriction of tourism to US could have an impact on US.

3. By Devaluing the Currency - 
China could lower the value of Yuan and export by making Chinese goods cheaper for other countries to import.

4. By Selling US Bonds - 
China owns more than $1 trillion of US government bonds which gives Beijing influence over the US economy.

5. By Interfering with North Korea Talks - 
China could use "formidable" weapons in a trade war and could use leverage in areas outside the economic sphere.

6. By Focusing on the Domestic Economy - 
china could focus on domestic growth and expand its trade and investment relations with other countries.

The companies such as Amazon, Toyota, Alcoa and others are working to counter Trumps's tariff plans as Amazon, the world's largest online retailer and clloud-computing company could be hurt by tariifs in items sold through its website.