Conflicts and wars between the world's great powers have been unfortunately common over past centuries, though their natures have varied according to each era's circumstances. Sometimes they have been conventional wars, i.e. military in nature, and sometimes they have been political ones such as during the Cold War. At other times, these conflicts have been transformed into trade and economic wars that have not been without political objectives in the interests of the different parties. However, the Sino-American conflict has included all these different forms of wars since it started in 1950 with the outbreak of the Korean War in which Washington sided with South Korea and Beijing allied with North Korea. This situation continued for a long while until relations between the two countries began to take on a more normal form in 1972 when then US president Richard Nixon visited China and the Shanghai Communiqué was issued ending the mutual boycott. China then strived to benefit from its geographical location to increase its power in every way. It is the world's third-largest country after Russia and Canada and has borders with 14 countries, the most important being Russia, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Afghanistan. It also overlooks important transport and trade routes, whether on land, such as the Silk Roads across Asia or maritime, through the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Formosa Straits. In addition, China has an enormous population amounting to more than 1.3 billion people which the Chinese leadership has succeeded in using to forge a new history for the country. All these factors have enabled China to compete with the world's other major powers and to put its feet firmly in their arena, whether economically, militarily or politically and especially after the introduction of the open-door policy embraced by Chinese President Xi Jinping after he took office in March 2013. Observers of Chinese-American relations have been able to observe many ups and downs and tensions, especially after US President Donald Trump took office in 2017. It soon became obvious that Trump sought to continue a policy of escalation with China, not only on the trade level but also in order to reduce the Chinese influence in several parts of the world, the most important of which are Southeast Asia and Africa. The trade deficit between Beijing and Washington now exceeds $5 billion in favour of the Chinese side, and Trump has often said that he will not allow Chinese products to spread further in American markets. However, Trump's statements are not wholly accurate, since while he has apparently been seeking merely to win a trade battle against China, in fact he has been putting great pressure on China to make it succumb to Washington's will and to reduce its political clout on several thorny issues, including the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. Washington has accused Beijing of hindering negotiations with North Korea, claiming that it is backing the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, seen particularly in Kim's visits to Beijing. This has raised Washington's concerns, since it hopes to tighten its grip on the negotiations with Pyongyang and to steer them away from any Chinese role. Washington views China with suspicion in this regard, in spite of Beijing's playing an important role in supporting the negotiations and directing them onto the right course from its point of view. Washington sees in Beijing a simple foe, and it has sought to do everything it can to obstruct it politically through its military support to Taiwan, where US arms sales have exceeded $10 ten billion over the last ten years. The latter has irritated Beijing and driven it to take major steps against Washington, including the cancellation of military consultations between the two sides. It has expressed its anger towards the US administration's moves regarding Taiwan, which China considers to be an inseparable part of its territory under its “One China” policy. This policy Washington has acknowledged but has not observed the relevant treaties and instead has breached them in order to put more pressure on Beijing. The economic conflict between the two countries will not stop here, especially since China's foreign exchange reserves now hold some $3.95 trillion, the world's biggest, and the country is the second-largest economy in the world and has been pursuing a policy of dealing with or joining economic blocs in Asia, Africa and Europe. This has driven the US administration to look for other ways of frustrating the Chinese dragon, such as by supporting Japan, South Korea, Cambodia and other states that are engaged in disputes with China over islands in the East China Sea and South China Sea. Washington has even consolidated its military presence in these areas under the pretext of protecting the freedom of commercial navigation in these waters. Washington also raises the issue of human rights from time to time in its relations with Beijing, pointing to human-rights violations in China. This is done on the basis that Washington is the international defender of human rights and the world's policeman, reserving to itself the right to interfere in the internal matters of other countries without allowing others to interfere in its own. This irritates China along with many other countries, including Egypt. Moreover, Washington has been sending out negative signals concerning the issue of Tibet, which China regards as a red line that cannot be crossed. Chinese-American relations are likely to remain in a state of tug of war for many years to come. Washington views Beijing as a threat to its economic, military and political influence in many parts of the world, while Beijing claims the right to deal with its own issues and lay out its own strategy in a way that suits it without the interference of Washington or any other country. It adopts measures it deems fitting on international and regional issues according to its own interests without taking US pressures into account. The conflict between Washington and Beijing therefore will not cease, even if its forms and methods may change depending on the development of different political situations.
