The US-china Trade Storm Cleaves The World

The US-China trade storm, with its angry eye centred on tech, cleaves the world

- Pranay Sharma

A massive pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong over the past few days, preceded by the 30th anniversary commemoration of the Tiananmen movement (on June 4) in Western capitals can be seen as yet another attempt by the US to isolate China and keep up the pressure on the rising hegemon as the intensifying Sino-American trade war spreads to other areas. Consequently, its fall-out has begun to affect a large number of countries adversely.

Ostensibly, the US wants to rein China in and prevent its spreading global clout. President Donald Trump has employed an array of tools at his disposal, ranging from higher tariffs to tech blacklists to financial isolation and sanctions against friends and foes alike in his attempt to safeguard and enhance US interests. Even as critics have deplored his policies as “weapons of mass disruption”, Trump seems unmoved by its terrible effect on countries beyond China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country’s Nord 2 gas pipeline to Europe was blocked by Washington, has aptly called the current scenario an “all-out brawl without any rules”, as he decided to forge closer alliance with China in the ongoing trade war.

In this politically charged backdrop, the China initiated annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Bishkek this weekend gathers added salience, especially in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence there. Significantly, this was his first multilateral meeting in his second stint as PM and therefore, the stand India took on crucial global developments would be keenly analysed in New Delhi and elsewhere.