23 May 2019 — Oriental Review

Judging by the reaction of official Chinese media outlets, Beijing is expecting neither a speedy nor a peaceful resolution to its economic conflict with Washington. Even America has noticed a change in tone to Beijing’s official media position: “China vows ‘people’s war’ as trade fight takes nationalist turn”, writes the US business news agency Bloomberg. It is worth noting that the “people’s war” being written about in the editorial of the Chinese state-owned foreign policy publication Global Times is not just a departure from the low-key, diplomatic rhetoric used previously, but also an actual recognition of the fact that, like it or not, the conflict with America is shifting (or has already shifted) away from being purely economic.

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30 March 2019 — New Eastern Outlook

Although a South China Morning Post news article of March 9 tried to dismiss a popular notion that there is going on a ‘clash of civilisations’ between the US and China and further showed that the present conflict between the two states could potentially be resolved by “reaching for universalist rather than nationalist values and principles”, the so-called universalism would remain a utopia as long as the nation-state continues to be the primary unit of international order, keeping the primacy of nationalist values and interests over universal. Its illustration can also be found in the strategic and security postures that the U.S., the so-called super-power clinging to the out-dated notion of unilateral hegemony, continues to develop in order to resist other powers’ rise and prevent its own downfall as the sole super-power.

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