Following the trade war, the technology war over Huawei, and the semiconductor war, the US-China hegemony war is getting closer and closer, with recent fierce battles over reconnaissance balloons.
◇ Trade war right after Trump came to power
: Right after taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump announced the beginning of the US-China hegemony war by bombarding China with indiscriminate tariffs.
The U.S.-China trade war is still ongoing as the U.S. has not yet completely canceled its tariff bomb.
◇ Technology war surrounding Huawei
: Later, in 2018, Trump launched a worldwide boycott of Huawei equipment, saying that Huawei was stealing the country’s secrets by planting ‘spyware’.
In particular, in December of that year, Huawei’s chief financial officer (CFO) Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei’s founder, was arrested in Canada.
Since it is important for the US and China to win the war for supremacy in the technological field, the US and China entered into a full-scale technology war after this incident.
ⓒ News1 DB◇ Semiconductor war from last year
: Since then, since Joe Biden took power as president, the US and China have been fighting a semiconductor war without any concessions since last year.
On October 7 last year, the Biden administration announced extensive export control measures, including a ban on Chinese exports of certain semiconductors.
Since then, the United States has been encircling China, attracting Japan and the Netherlands to its side.
◇ Balloon Wars this year
: The US and China are having a dispute over reconnaissance balloons this year.
As the United States successively shot down unidentified flying objects over North America, China is also pushing to shoot down them, claiming that an unidentified flying object has been confirmed in its airspace.
When the US took issue with the unidentified flying object, it seems that China started a counter-fire operation, implying that the US is also flying an unidentified flying object in Chinese airspace.
The United States shot down an unidentified flying object captured over Lake Huron on the 12th. The U.S. military shot down an unidentified flying object hovering over Lake Huron, located between the U.S. state of Michigan and the Canadian state of Ontario.
This marks the fourth time that the United States and Canada have shot down an unidentified flying object believed to be of China.
On the 4th, a Chinese reconnaissance balloon was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean, and on the 10th, unidentified flying objects were shot down in Canadian airspace following Alaska in the United States on the 10th.
◇ China also counterattacked
China’s state media reported on the 12th that it had spotted an unidentified flying object flying over the waters near Qingdao, a port city with a major naval base, and was preparing to shoot it down.
China claims that the United States has illegally invaded Chinese airspace more than 10 times since last year without approval from relevant Chinese authorities.
If the US and China waged a semiconductor war last year, this year they are fighting a balloon war.
Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, who is called the mouth of the Chinese Communist Party, recently tweeted, “This year seems to be recorded as the ‘Year of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects)’. It is very mysterious,” he said.
This conflict is expected to continue until the tide of the US-China hegemony war clearly tilts to one side. What kind of war will the two countries wage next?
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.