Why do everyone's eyes look at China and the United States?

Some things in the world are actually no longer something that can determine success or failure in a short time. Sometimes, a country’s change is not as simple as opening or closing the door. Some news numbers often appear, such as GDP, population, and export volume, but what makes people feel difficult to relax behind those superficial numbers?

Now, the United States publicly admits that China's progress is fast and difficult to reverse.

"China's speed: The United States' multiple strategies are not able to stop it."

Since 2018, the United States has launched a series of measures such as tariff increase, commodity circulation control, and technological restrictions on China. At that time, the American media kept saying that "it will definitely win." But in a flash, seven years have passed, and the "scoring list" listed by the United States is not what it expected.

US measures "combination punch": frequent obstruction

The tariff war was the first protagonist of the confrontation. The United States has increased the trade costs of thousands of Chinese products, hoping to trap Chinese companies - as a result, China has accelerated its pace of "going out" and opened a new trade route for the "Belt and Road". In terms of data, China's trade volume with countries along the "Belt and Road" reached US$197.5 billion in 2023, an increase of 10.5% over the previous year.

The tariff fire has not been restored, but China has opened up new partners. The United States did not play well in this game.

Another example is technological restrictions. The United States restricts the export of semiconductors and high-end software and sets up a "blacklist" in the hope of making China "stuck". But China has instead increased its self-development, such as the 2025 plan, and the number of patent applications in key areas has increased to the top three in the world. In 2023 alone, China's patent authorization number reached 3.686 million. The United States originally thought that as long as "cutting off supply" could strangle the "life gate", but the effect was not obvious.

[The data on the technology war is very clear, and China's independent innovation is faster. 】

Let’s look at the financial market again. The United States encourages financial blockade and cut off cooperation, hoping to shake China's economy. China has taken another path: to develop its own payment system and settlement network, including promoting Asian infrastructure investment banks, and also joining Russia and other countries to conduct local currency settlement. Data from the International Monetary Fund shows that by the end of 2023, the proportion of cross-border trade settled in China in RMB increased by nearly triple compared with five years ago.

The Lost in the United States: "Every time I try, the results are not expected"

The United States was originally "full of confidence". It is historically said that it took a hundred years to become the strongest on the earth. Spain, Britain, France, Japan, the Soviet Union - the United States has defeated all its famous names. In the Cold War, the United States never retreated. All of these have made the United States develop a unique confidence, and even believe that success is written in its genes.

China's rise is another situation. Not within the old American rival scripts.

"China's rise depends not only on its economic size, but on its three world firsts."

First, China is a civilization that has been precipitated in five thousand years of history. It is not a simple concept of state, but a "condensation" of cultural thickness from ancient times to the present. This is not something that can be confronted out of thin air. Even some European and American think tanks admitted in their 2023 report that the growth of civilization brings a fundamental driving force.

Second, China's land and ethnic unity are extraordinary. The integrity of the country and the continuous history make division difficult. Unity at the national level is a unique advantage, with a population of 1.4 billion forming a huge concentric circle. This is rare in the "diversified integration" model dominated by the United States, and immigrant countries cannot achieve such an integration of population and culture.

Third, the surge in innovation capabilities. The United States itself also said that China's innovation and creativity have become the global focus. There are many scientific research talents from China in the "Silicon Valley". Looking at the domestic market, the number of high-tech jobs, patents and the growth rate of emerging industries are among the world's forefront from 2015 to 2023. Innovation capabilities have made up for the sequelae of "drawing network cables" in the United States.

"The United States has worked hard many times, but the results are always not ideal."

Some American scholars believe that China's confidence in resisting is actually a deep-rooted social support. For example, the United States hopes to make China concessions through various public opinion pressures and political alliances, but China has expanded its organizational structure to a global scale. New platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS mechanism have emerged, and this force continues to grow outward.

Looking at the data again, in 2023, the total trade value of BRICS countries broke through the 45 trillion US dollars mark, and China dominated. With such a size, the United States' blockade has gradually become weak.

What are the comparisons in the United States?

Some people mention that the US economy is still the largest, but in comparison, the total economic volume of the US is still the largest in the world in 2023, but China's growth rate and scale difference are narrowing. For example, China's manufacturing output value ranks first in the world, accounting for nearly 30% of the world; the US manufacturing industry accounts for about 16% of the world.

The internationalization of the RMB is getting faster and faster. Last year, China achieved local currency settlement with more than 60 countries, with a trade scale of more than US$1.5 trillion. Although the US dollar's "dominant" is still there, the "unipolar" trend has been differentiated.

"Some people in the US think tanks and government are reflecting that the usual method of facing China's high-rise cohesion is no longer effective."

After China was "targeted", it became stronger?

The United States has never given up on various attempts. From trade, technology to finance, and public opinion, we are all doing our best. But strangely, China's response is usually "reverse to the guest": using new partners, endogenous innovation, and alliances and new systems to gradually dismantle external dilemmas.

For example, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the BRICS Economic Circle, each of which turns domestic production capacity and influence into international voice. This is something the United States had not expected before.

Netizens often see the United States introduce new policies, and then China quickly provides countermeasures. For example, a few months after a new technological restriction was issued, China's own alternative was launched. Time is used very tightly, and the effect is obvious to all.

Three key points

"Civilization Foundation" - China's confidence is brought by history.

"Unity and Land" - Economic, population and culture form a synergy.

"Innovation ability" - rapid self-growth, testify with data.

Although the US government has various means, the challenges are getting bigger and bigger at present. They found that reality was not the opponents they had faced before - some things cannot be explained with simple data.

The world changes will not be suspended because of whom's unilateral will. Many countries are now observing: Where will China go in the future? How will the United States adjust? The world is at a new intersection of changes, and no one can say "it's a foregone conclusion". Facts and numbers will be printed on the next calendar.