Cold war

The US and China are entering a new cold war. Where does that leave the rest of us?

Let’s be honest: there is a new cold war between China and the United States. The coronavirus crisis has only heightened the antagonism. There are few, if any, countries in Africa or Latin America where the two superpowers do not loom large as rivals. When Chinese and Indian soldiers clash with brutal hand-to-hand fighting on a disputed frontier, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo hastens to take the Indians’ side. British MPs have formed a China Research Group – with the word research meaning “opposition research”, as in the European Research Group. The question of whether Huawei is a security threat is being asked almost everywhere.

Every historical analogy is imperfect, but if the essence of cold war is a worldwide, multi-dimensional, long-term struggle between two superpowers, this is a new cold war. The question for the rest of us is: what we do about it? Do we put our heads in the sand and say: “Please make this go away?” That is roughly the attitude of most Europeans. Or do we recognise the reality and try to shape it towards the best possible outcome? The latter is obviously the right course. With that in mind, here are nine lessons from cold war I for cold war II.