The U.S. and China have always had a relationship that could be described as “economic rivalry”, we’ve been competing for decades to see who will sit at the top of the global leader boards; however, with China now arming a shared domain of the U.S. with extensive force, there’s speculation that this rivalry could devolve into a cold war conflict. The disputed territory, mainly artificial islands in the South China Sea, are a shared territory of the United States and China, and up until now have remained neutral and most notably, unarmed. China in the past has agreed not to place any arms on these islands; however, they seem to have recently had a change in heart. This armament only serves to worsen tension between the feuding United States and China, even worse after President- Elect Donald J. Trump accepted a call from the Taiwan President congratulating him, which was viewed as a violation of the One China Policy established decades ago. Not only is the U.S. upset with China, by sending “freedom-of-navigation” operations to discover these armaments, the Chinese were angered and even warned the U.S. gov’t that these practices may end in “disaster”. I think that this dispute can be easily linked to the Bay of Pigs incident that occurred during the Cold War, with the Soviets attempting to place nuclear warheads on Cuban soil, an area the U.S. was totally against having any form of Soviet weaponry on. With an already thin relationship, the chance for nuclear conflict skyrocketed during that event, and even though the two countries were never at war, it was a rivalry and fear of the other that nearly caused so much devastation. If we continue to separate ourselves from China, and not try to bridge the gap in a fair, diplomatic matter, we could be looking at much graver consequences in the near future, especially as powerful states such as Russia would most definitely take China’s side in any conflicts or proxy wars.
