China-us trade war explained

The China-US trade war with US President, Donald Trump is becoming a ‘practical reality’, says a senior Chinese military official. The remarks were published on the People’s Liberation Army website, apparently in response to the aggressive tariffs that have been placed on China by the US.

So what does this mean? Well, for starters, the China-US trade war doesn’t look like it’s heading in a positive direction. This is because China, day by day, is getting more and more aggrieved about the situation at hand.

As a matter of fact, the way that both the U.S and China are going, they are hurling themselves into dark and uncharted territory. Territory that neither the trade world but also the rest of the world has never seen before. Why? No country in this world has ever tried to cut off trading ties with China - the country which literally makes everything we use with their famous trademark of ‘Made in China’.

In addition to this, US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson has also advocated a US naval blockade of artificial Chinese islands in the South China Sea – which Beijing could interpret as an act of war. This means that not only is the US putting trade tensions and tariffs on China but also trying to stop China from retaliating against the US.

Furthermore, not only is the US on the edge, China is too. In fact, the Chinese military official quoted above also wrote that the US should, as a whole, reconsider its strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. Moreover, there have been further suggestions that China is preparing for conflict that have emerged this week, with unconfirmed reports that the military has moved long range missiles closer to the north east border of China in the Heilongjiang province - within firing range of the US. However, it is also worth noting that Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently called for the reduction of nuclear weapons. This reduces the chance of any future nuclear attacks and so is a reassuring development.

Overall, unless the US completely stops these ‘aggressive’ (according to China) tariffs and naval blockades or China stops trying to retaliate against the US in any possible way, nothing is going to get better, it really isn’t.

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