[Richard Falk] Learning from China

The geopolitical checkerboard has seen, in recent years, a major shift. China, once a poor and ravaged country, is now challenging the U.S. for supremacy, and Washington doesn’t like it. The Pentagon is flexing its muscle. The U.S. military budget is over a trillion dollars and climbing. It’s triple what China spends. The Pentagon is planning for war. U.S. military bases surround China, yet Washington says that China is a threat. The U.S. is used to getting its way, but China won’t be easily bullied or pushed around. China has a global economic strategy. It is expanding its influence by investing in the Global South, particularly in Africa and Latin America. It is taking the lead in sustainable energy, manufacturing 80% of the world’s solar panels. While the U.S. is a military powerhouse, China is increasingly an economic one and most likely will supplant the U.S. as the global hegemon in the coming decades.