Why the US-China trade war?

COMMENT | As a member of the Chinese global community, l support the American spirit of democracy, of fairness and equality, which are attributes admired across the world by all citizens.

However, l do not agree with the current United States President Donald Trump, who has proven to be shortsighted and whose reactions are of the typical businessman who only sees immediate gain, without seeing the long-term benefits for both Americans and the rest of the world.

The current trade war between the US and China, has grave consequences, harming both sides. Businessmen, factory workers, consumers, in fact, everyone will be affected. We will all be paying a high price, especially when the capital market of the world becomes unstable.

All because ugly politicians and ugly politics use the so-called democratic system to abuse their power for short-term gain. By doing so, they compromise the value of democracy itself. They harm everyone except themselves. They cannot see that the position of the US, the strength of Americans will most definitely be affected.

The real power of the United States is the US dollar, which is a common currency of the world. A stabilising force for the world. But today, we all know the US currency is over-printed and over-valued, with its national debt standing at US$21 trillion.

The US is bankrupt.

But the US is lucky that the world still chooses to recognise its democratic system, its contribution to the world. The citizens of the world continue to support the US currency.

My deepest concern is that this may change as a result of this US-China trade war if it continues. If the US, manipulated by ugly politicians, continues with its ugly acts, the beautiful gold, so regarded by the Chinese language, will no longer be beautiful when the US currency loses its popularity in the world.

I fear that one day the crash of US currency will crash the stock market and nothing good will come of it, just like this US and China trade war, no good for anybody, just the ugly politicians.

The US must work hand in hand with China, for their own interest. Over the last 40 years, China had been contributing to the US with its manufacturing capacity, in many ways for all products they use on a daily basis, from shoes to caps, from drinking glasses to furniture. Americans have enjoyed a good life for the last 40 years because of China.

Americans have benefited from the rise of China, as well as from the people of the world who continue to work very hard to earn in US dollars.

The global confidence in the US dollar comes from the efforts of the past presidents of the US. They upheld the righteousness of human value. But the current president does not seem to share these values. Rude remarks such as "f*** Donald Trump" are coming from his own people, with some even punching rubber statues of him.

I believe that this US-China trade war will cause the US dollar to tumble. The US currency will crash like other currencies that have crashed in history. Look at the statistics, study the number of US national collaborations and personal debts.

The question is, does the US need the world or the world need the US?

Here you have a president who cares nothing for his own people, a man taking advantage of the democratic system to destroy everything that his predecessors have worked so hard to build, the actual architects of the world. It is time he came to his senses that the way to solve the problems of the world is for the two giants to work together.

The US, with the help of China, has to create a platform for all exchanges, create a stable US dollar to ensure a stable world. Change the mindset. Look at China as a friend, not an enemy. See China’s rise as an opportunity and not a threat. And finally, which is a hard one, learn to be number two.

LEE KIM YEW, a real estate developer, is the founder and patron of the World Chinese Economic Summit. This piece is written by the author in reaction to the September 2018 “We The Future” Ted Talk presented by Harvard University political scientist Graham Allison on the topic “How will the US respond to the rise of China?”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.