Globalisation, an invention of the West, has now been tweaked with Brexit and Trumponomics, both new inventions that are threatening the ‘free trade’ world scenario.
With Brexit, Britain is telling the world that it has a major role to play as an individual nation and that is fine with many, but Trumponomics is giving globalisation a whole new meaning.
The real meaning of globalisation, an agenda accepted by the entire world – except for a few who paid the price with their lives and one or two more who are bound to face the same fate – is to free trade from encumbrances and allow the world to grow together.
But Trumponomics, which is what US President Donald Trump is pushing outward to the rest of the world with his economic, political and global policies, if successful will turn the world topsy-turvy and this will be achieved in an unhealthy manner.
It is an attempt at polarising the world in a hypnotic gyrating around the US with the term ‘we are the centre of your world’ masking its agenda.
Yet, China seems to be the only nation on earth that has a globalisation policy that could disrupt Trumponomics on the global scale, while setting the stage for a division of global interests thus establishing a bi-polar world with a trade, economic, political and business divide.
We have seen how China has roped in several nations in the Asian belt into its Belt and Road Initiative or BRI which is a sum of all natural numbers of the One Belt One Road – yeah that famous OBOR – represents.
With Trump’s bashing of North Korea on an almost daily basis amid the dream of flattening the country through a US Nuclear firefight, China has found a new way to manipulate Trump’s foreign agenda.
And it is not the other way round because this time the Chinese are scrambling to contain the US further away from the South China Sea, where it has established itself as the sole super power.
Beijing knows that a military attack on North Korea will only result in a further division of global leaders, pitting Trump’s new found militarism against the peace agenda’s of the European Union for example.
It will also give a shudder to the Asean nations, which is in closer proximity to Pyongyang (some of the Asean countries are ‘friends’ with the North Koreans) and it will force them to open their eyes and see Trump as a bully who will get anything he want with his big toys – not to forget the mother-of-all-bombs).
Some countries will give outright support to Trump but most people will see Trump as the new devil in disguise, the other George W. Bush that the world did not want to have.
If Trump were to put the money where his mouth is, that is attack North Korea, it will be the very start of the demonising of the US across the Chinese led business belt.
Hence, China is not really counting on a US offensive against North Korea but it is betting that if Trump were to act in such an uncivilised manner, it will be to China’s advantage.
And this will be what China will achieve on both fronts, that is the North Korean and the Trump fronts: That is a bi-polar world.
The simple fact that China has allowed Trump to go that far in its threats against North Korea and has also allowed the North Koreans to go beyond the imaginable with its long range missile programme, are points to consider.
These are the very start of the bi-poar world that China is wishing will be forked out from a US irritation of China’s basic latent stance on North Korea.
We all know the UN sanctions voted by China at the Security Council recently is an attempt by Beijing to tell the North Koreans “we are here, we will interfere when needed hence you should continue with your long range missile plans.”
Thus, North Korea is continuing in its drum beating and elaborate plans to heat up the waters near Guam, the American military base where all the threats against North Korea will materialise in the future.
Notice that I did not mention the Chinese President Xi Jinping nor the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in the article until now. The reason is simple. The whole complexity of the China-US-North-Korea nexus goes far beyond the two men, as it surely gyrates around Trump and what he will do next.
The only way for Trump to stop the Chinese winning in this dangerous bout, is perhaps, to come down to earth and realise that he is being led by Beijing into a devastating foreign policy that will not serve Trumponomics at all.
And that can only happen if Trump decides to talk to the North Koreans.