For the first time in modern history, the United States is not just declining, it’s facing the toughest opponent ever.
China has been quietly growing, getting stronger, and it’s openly gunning for global dominance.
The clash of the USA and China is the main event of the 21st century and is going to affect our lives (regardless of where we live), whether we like it or not.
Now, the US has a few aces hidden up its sleeve, and China has some flaws that could prove fatal.
So here, I’ll give you a clear view of this historical moment and make my prediction of who’s going to win. Let’s start with one of the biggest mistakes of the Western World…
Underestimating China
In 1976, Mao Zedong died and left China extremely poor.
It’s kind of weird because despite having a large, hard-working population, they couldn’t become rich like other communist countries.
But everything started to change when Deng shaoping came to power.
He introduced a simple, pragmatic approach.
“It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.”
That meant he didn’t care if a policy was capitalist or communist, as long as it helped China grow.
So Deng rolled back strict central planning. He gave farmers more freedom, encouraged private businesses, and opened China to foreign investment.
These were bold moves, especially from a Communist regime.
But Deng never gave up control. China stayed a one-party state, and he was responsible for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
On the other hand, he had a long-term strategy: “Hide your strength, bide your time.” In other words, they needed to grow quietly without provoking confrontation with the West.
For decades, that’s exactly what they did, and the West saw China more as a cheap factory than a serious competitor.
But in recent years, China has started to show its teeth.
They have been heavily investing in foreign countries and building alliances that directly compete with the current world order.
What’s more interesting is that China has been waging a subtle…
Psychological War
Their goal is to amplify doubts and divisions inside Western societies and to create the perception worldwide that China is the new beacon of modernization.
And their biggest propaganda machine has been, without a doubt, TikTok.
Of course, ByteDance denies any links to the Chinese Communist Party.
But think about it…
CCP has forced and convinced 1.4 billion people into submission… from farmers to billionaires. Yet, this social media app has somehow escaped the claws of this Orwellian regime?
I just don’t buy it.
In fact, let me give you an example from another country, Kosovo.
About 2 years ago, it was uncovered that one of the most popular TV channels had ties to Serbia, which, in case you don’t know, is an enemy country.
Now, ask yourself:
Is that TV station going to serve the interests of Albanian viewers?
Or is it going to push the agenda of its owners?
The answer was obvious to anyone paying attention.
For years, this channel had been producing trash content designed to polarize public opinion and sprinkle in Serbian propaganda. You know, it would be the equivalent of Fox News having ties to Russia.
Luckily, Kosovo has a strong democratic culture and has elected very smart leaders.
Despite the massive obstacles, it has been growing steadily.
So we can follow the same logic with TikTok:
Is this machine serving the American viewers…
Or is it quietly serving its real master… the CCP?
If you want to learn more about how China is using TikTok for psychological and public opinion warfare, I suggest reading this article.
Now let’s move on to the ultimate goal of China:
To Create a New World Order
Throughout history, empires have risen and fallen in predictable cycles.
Ray Dalio explains that dominant powers usually decline because of rising debt, internal conflict, and losing leadership on the global stage
And today, the United States seems to be entering that stage of decline:
Massive debt? check
Deep internal conflict? Check
Falling behind in global competitiveness? check
Loss of shared values and national unity? Check
At the same time, China is rising.
Right now, it produces around 30% of the world’s manufactured goods.
They dominate in industries like electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries, and shipbuilding.
They’re also catching up fast in high-tech fields like artificial intelligence and computer chips.
On the other hand, China faces serious internal problems, such as a slowing economy, rising youth unemployment, a declining birth rate, and high levels of corporate and local government debt.
So China is not invincible, but that doesn’t mean the US can sit back and relax.
First, hoping your rival will fail is not a strategy.
Second, even a slower, more fragile China remains a formidable competitor because of its sheer scale of production capacity, skilled workforce, and market size.
That’s why, according to this article by Foreign Affairs, the U.S. probably cannot outcompete China alone.
However, by working closely with partners like Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and Europe, the U.S. can build a powerful coalition to push back against China’s global ambitions.
This strategy sounds great, but Trump clearly has a different vision.
In his first term, he weakened relationships with key allies by slapping tariffs on their products and basically calling them “free-loaders.”
Then Biden made some real efforts to repair those relationships, but in the second term, Trump has doubled down on his approach.
USA vs China: Who’s going to win?
If the United States can:
- Rebuild trust with their allies,
- Shift their focus from working for the top 1% to helping everyday Americans
- Work on uniting people with different political views
Then it has a strong chance to stay ahead.
And yes, those are big ifs. But with a little political will, it’s more than possible.
Now, in a clash between the US and China, I would bet on the US. Because while China’s rise has been wildly impressive, it has a major internal weakness.
As we said, Deng Xiaoping moved China away from rigid communist ideology, at least when it came to economic decision-making.
Today, however, Xi Jinping has re-centralized political power to a degree we haven’t seen since Mao. The government has way more control over businesses, culture, and people’s personal lives.
They’ve placed Party officials inside big companies to make sure they follow the Party line.
You have these party members influencing big decisions who, let’s be honest, are not there because of their technical skills but because of their loyalty to the party. So in the long term, this heavy control over businesses and people will choke creativity and innovation.
I think that China is moving away from that flexible, growth-above-all mentality that made it great in the first place.
In other words, they’re killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Now let’s go to the US.
Sure, you can say that Trump has a rigid, impulsive leadership style. Once he makes up his mind, it’s hard to convince him otherwise, even when he’s clearly wrong.
But when his term is over, someone else will replace him, hopefully someone who’s young.
So, the US has the massive advantages of having close allies and the freedom to change course when things are not working.
