"Second" Cold War?
Western analysts wonder if the US and China are heading for Cold War 2.0. You can see the basis for that feeling. What started off as trade related issues has now escalated into tit-for-tat consulate closures in Houston and Chengdu, China practically shredding its commitments towards Hong Kong, and increased military moves by both sides in the East and South China Sea. Nick Bisley makes an interesting point about the “first” Cold War: “While the Cold War was a global contest, its dynamics were starkly different in Asia and Europe. Most obviously, the first three decades of the contest were anything but cold in Asia. Indeed, the label seems like a cruel joke for a region that experienced several large-scale wars from the 1950s to the 1970s in Korea and Indochina, killing many millions of people.” Yes, the period was “free of bloodshed” in Europe, which is what the white man really cared about. Another difference, writes Bisley, was that Asia had no “Berlin Wall moment”, i...