The Cold War dominated much of the 20th century’s geopolitical landscape and continues to echo to this day. It was a period of rivalry between two great powers: The Soviet Union and the United States. The two countries competed for influence across the globe and sought to expand their respective ideologies. This rivalry ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, a new cold war is emerging – this time between the United States and China. Much like the previous one, the conclusion is still very much undecided, but one fact is clear: China is currently winning. This is already known by leaders in both Washington and Beijing, and both are in a flurry to win the cold war in their side’s favor. Beijing has proven to be the superior in this.China is growing in its influence and power, which is supported by a US State Department release from throughout 2020 detailing China’s expanding belligerence in the Indo-Pacific. China has forced the United States to recognize its growth, which entrenches this fact: The United States should take a harsher competitive stance against China. Though there are many facets of the American-Sino rivalry that make for lots of competition points, there are four brazen elements that the United States should pay close attention to.

One of the most glaring aspects of this competition is the economic side. A nation’s economy is what helps determine its global standing, so it is often a point of fierce competition. In this respect, the United States is getting outdone by China in multiple ways. One clear example of this is the US’s own trade with China. According to a Bureau of Economic Analysis report from February 7, 2023, the United States ran a trade deficit of $382.9 billion with China in 2022. This means that as far as goods and services go, China is benefiting more than the US from their trade relationship. The United States needs to step up its economic game if it wants to compete with both China and India, another population juggernaut that has the potential to grow its economy tremendously. Many expert economists are pointing towards China and India overtaking the US economy, as referenced by a Forbes article by Derek Saul, on December 6, 2022. One reason these countries are expected to surpass the US is that they have large population bases to draw workers from, therefore adding to economic activity. While it will be difficult to catch up to the nearly 3 billion combined population of India and China, the United States can draw on its currently untapped workers to regain its footing. The US has a current unemployment rate of 3.4%; approximately 5.7 million people, which is clarified in a Bureau of Labor Statistics release from February 2023. With these new workers, the United States can expand its manufacturing base, in turn weaning itself off of Chinese labor. While summoning its large open worker base, the United States can also regain its development prowess. As elucidated in a Foreign Affairs article written by Dan Wang on February 28, 2023, which specializes in geopolitics, much of the American advantage in development has eroded to China, which is evidenced by tech giant Apple outsourcing much of its iPhone engineering to Chinese firms. In addition to reinvigorating its manufacturing industry, the US can offer more incentives for designing and producing high technology within its borders. If the United States can harness its unused workforce and retake its innovative advantage, it will boost its economy and outcompete China.

With a large economy obviously comes great influence. Many regional powers, like the US, China, and Brazil, all have significantly larger economies than their neighbors. China, with its fast-growing economy and military, is looking to increase its sway in east and southeast Asia. It is doing this in multiple ways, one of which is economic. According to Chatham House, a respected nonprofit institute, in September 2021, in an article written by Dr. Yu Jie and Jon Wallace, China’s Belt and Road Initiative is meant to develop a larger market for China to sell in, thereby increasing its influence. This has already paid dividends to China, like when it provided the nation with a new port beyond its borders. In an article by NPR on August 19, 2022, produced by Lauren Frayer, Sri Lanka was forced to give up its valuable Hambantota port to China after it couldn’t pay back the debts incurred by its construction. Essentially, the Belt and Road Initiative lures developing nations into a debt trap with China so that they are forced to relent their control of infrastructure. Now that China is gaining strategically invaluable locations such as the Sri Lankan port, it can project power far beyond its borders, threatening neighboring states and American interests in the process. The United States needs to offer its own more benevolent version of the Belt and Road so that countries have an alternative. With its increased influence economically, China can then move in its expanding military, whose focus has recently been the South China Sea. There are at least 3 high-tech militarized Chinese islands in the sea, which is explained in a March 20 2022 Guardian article by the Associated Press. China will undoubtedly use its relatively unchallenged growth in influence to contest the United States for power in the Asia-Pacific region. If the United States is to win, it must push back against the growing Chinese threat by bolstering its allies in the region. Working closely with countries such as Japan, South Korea, and India will serve in the US’s favor and contain China’s explosive growth in armament in belligerence.

Using its enormous and only growing geopolitical influence, China has pursued a program of unreasonable surveillance and exploiting extrajudicial powers. In recent times, China has repeatedly shaken the United States media, making headlines with its projections of power beyond its borders. Not only has China caused ripples across the United States with its surveillance of it, but its attempts at reconnaissance have been working. The Chinese spy balloon that stirred a flurry throughout the country had the means to monitor communications, as evidenced by a New York Times article by Edward Wong and Julian Barnes last updated on February 13, 2023. This clearly indicates that China is trying to keep tabs on the American government and citizens alike. Also, other Chinese balloons have traversed over 40 countries, many of them in Latin and South America, according to the Washington Post from February 2023. This demonstrates China’s ability, and willingness, to spy on America and countries within its orbit. If the United States took a harsher, more competitive, stance against China, many of these incidents would not occur. As if simply spying on land was not enough, there is also evidence pointing towards China expressing surveillance power in other ways as well. According to a Guardian article by Reuters from January 29 2018, numerous African Union members reported that the union’s headquarters was bugged and sending data to China nightly. In fact, this surveillance was possible through China’s own Belt and Road Initiative, when China installed hidden microphones when it paid for and built the multinational organization’s headquarters. It used its economic might to expand its intelligence capabilities, and many developing countries paid the price. In addition, China has reportedly made police outposts across the globe, intended to control Chinese nationals in places like New York. A New York Times article by Megha Rajagopalan and William Rashbaum from January 12, 2023, stated that there are more than 100 of these extraterritorial and extrajudicial police stations. These have the potential to harm Chinese Americans, who should be protected from a regime across the ocean harming them. The United States, in good conscience, cannot allow this unrestricted surveillance to continue.

Another way to add to China’s virtually unfettered surveillance is through space exploration and development. Since there are relatively few restrictions on space, it has become a top priority for the US, China, and other countries alike in the last 60 years. This has inevitably led to competition between nations, one of which is between the US and China. Although Statista, an established statistics site, reported on March 2, 2023, that the US has thousands more satellites than China, it is important to note that many of these may be nonfunctioning, or “space junk”. However, China has demonstrated its capability to send many objects into space. Aerospace Security, an organization dedicated to aerospace issues, reported on February 16, 2023, that China had more space launches than the United States in 2021, with 56 compared to 45. Considering that just a few decades ago, China was an underdeveloped, struggling country, this displays that China has the determination to research at a breakneck pace, staying on par with the United States in many areas. Just considering their extensive recon-capable satellite fleet, China’s space program is as impressive as its American counterpart. According to a TIME article by Chad de Guzman on February 3 2023, China has more than 260 intelligence satellites, likely most of which are gathering intel on the US and its allies. This large satellite network is sure to grow exponentially in the coming years, as are China’s space research capabilities. As explained in a PBS article written by the Associated Press on February 28, 2023, China is constructing a permanent space station and is recruiting and training astronauts from multiple countries. This is in contrast to the United States, which is arguably moving backward on the space station front. According to an NPR work by Joe Hernandez from February 3, 2022, the International Space Station (ISS) is set to be retired near the end of the 2020s, which the United States is a part of. As the flaming mass of metal meets its demise in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, it is likely to take the US’s competitive edge against China with it. Left with no permanent space station of its own, the US will either have to be a tenant on China’s, create its own (which will take years, plenty of time for China to overtake the US in space), or settle for no crewed satellite in the Earth’s orbit. If the United States wants to remain at the forefront of space, it needs to begin constructing a new space station now.

The US-China rivalry takes place in many aspects. From surveillance and influence to economy and space, China is rapidly catching up to the United States and arguably surpassing it in certain areas. One important part of this rivalry is the economic portion, where the US is at a disadvantage. From a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars, a much smaller workforce, and outsourced innovation, the United States is set to lose the economic competition. Another vital part of American power is its influence in Asia. On this front, China is gaining ground quickly through its Belt and Road Initiative and its multiple fully militarized islands in the South China Sea. If the United States remains passive with this Chinese buildup of influence, it will likely lose its footing in Asia. In addition, China’s unchecked surveillance of not only the US but also other countries will undermine American interests. With such actions as bugging the African Union headquarters with microphones and flying a spy balloon across the contiguous United States, China is being allowed to create an intelligence empire. Hand-in-hand with surveillance, China is also bumping up against the United States in space, from building its own space station to launching satellites at a, well, astronomical rate. China is set to win in space. China is winning in surveillance. China is winning in Asia. And, China has practically already won in the economy. With all this overwhelming evidence, the United States should, without a doubt, take a harsher competitive stance against China. To win this 21st-century Cold War, the United States must outcompete and outlast China, just as it did with the Soviet Union.