Original: Zhanhao source official account: Zhanhao wechat id:zhanhao668
Is there a fundamental contradiction between China and NATO? Now we have to look at this problem in two.
If NATO represents the hegemonic interests of the United States, there will be a fundamental contradiction between China and NATO, because the United States has listed China as its primary opponent and believes that only by interrupting China’s rejuvenation process can the hegemonic position of the United States be maintained. Therefore, it is good that the contradiction between China and the United States is not further intensified. Do not expect to achieve reconciliation in the short term.
If NATO represents the interests of Europe, there will be no fundamental contradiction between China and NATO. At most, there are ideological differences between the two sides. Geographically, there is no contradiction between China and Europe; Economically, there is no contradiction in the complementary relationship between China and Europe; Objectively, the common interests of China EU cooperation far outweigh the contradictions.
Therefore, NATO of the United States hopes that everyone will deal with China together; Although NATO of the EU also hopes to contain and suppress China, it also hopes to benefit from cooperation with China. In order to make the European Union act according to the will of the United States, the United States takes Ukraine as a “sacrifice”, makes the European Union afraid of the Russian Ukrainian war, and is willing to exchange security for the interests the United States wants.
In this context, the just concluded NATO summit finally agreed in its “strategic concept” document, which comes out once every ten years. After Russia is listed as the “biggest and direct threat”, China is also listed as an opponent “challenging NATO’s security, interests and values” and “posing a systematic challenge to Europe and the Atlantic” for the first time, It also described “the deepening cooperation between China and Russia” as an attempt to “undermine the rule-based international order, which runs counter to our values and interests.”
Of course, China scoffs at this, and points the spearhead at the United States, which likes to blackmail China. China is very clear that there are strategic differences between the United States and Europe on the issue of China, which is determined by their fundamental interests. Europe has neither hegemony nor the strength to seek hegemony, so there is no strategic contradiction between China and Europe in essence. It is for this reason that China, while angrily denouncing the United States, has also taken measures – giving part of the original interests of the United States to Europe – to buy Airbus aircraft.
According to media reports, on July 1, China Southern Airlines, Air China and China Eastern Airlines announced that they would purchase 292 Airbus a320neo aircraft from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, with a total amount of more than 37billion US dollars (about 240billion yuan). This is the first time in the past three years that China’s civil aviation industry has announced such a large-scale passenger plane order. Airbus also released the news of obtaining new orders in China on its official website for the first time.
For China, more than 8000 airliners are needed in the next 20 years, which is a trillions of dollars business. Although China is developing its own airliners, China’s independent airliners can’t eat such a large market, not to mention that China’s own large airliner C919 has just been delivered. Boeing and Airbus are the only companies that can produce large passenger planes in the world. Who will be the order of China? This is not just an economic problem, but a political problem.
So now let’s look at this deal. Everyone with a clear eye knows that this is not a simple business, but a political decision. So, what signal does China want to use this business to release? According to Zhanhao (wechat official account: Zhanhao), China wants to release three heavy signals through this transaction:
1? Win win cooperation
China is the largest market in the world. As long as any country cooperates with China, it can obtain sufficient economic returns. Obviously, the reality is that cooperation can win-win results, not suppress and discredit. The China EU investment agreement has not been signed yet. If it is signed, the interests will be greater.
In fact, just a week ago, on June 24, Airbus chose Suzhou as the location of its China R & D center. On the same day, Airbus and Suzhou Industrial Park signed a framework agreement online. According to the agreement, Airbus China R & D center will make use of the advantages of the aviation and hydrogen energy industry chain in the Yangtze River Delta, focus on the research work around the hydrogen energy infrastructure, provide Airbus with research and innovation services for advanced manufacturing, electrification, future cabin and new technology, promote the transformation and upgrading of the aerospace industry under the guidance of digitalization and intelligence, and cultivate and gather high-end talents at the same time, Promote the development of aerospace industry in the region.
It is obvious that Airbus is trying to gain a competitive advantage in the Chinese market by establishing a research and development center in China, and China has just announced that China has given a $37billion contract. Seeing such a contract, I believe Boeing’s eyes are almost greedy! However, because the United States is anti China and does not cooperate with China, Boeing is staring at it!
2? If the United States wants to oppose China, don’t say that it can’t eat meat or soup
It is self-evident that China announced this news after the NATO summit. It was at a time when the United States was doing everything possible to incite NATO to oppose China. China told the United States with a single business that there was no way out for anti China. As long as anti China continued, let alone that there was no meat to eat, the United States might not even have soup.
Just like this order of nearly 300 airliners, who China gives, who will get strong support in operation, especially China’s market space of more than 8000 in the next 20 years. If the United States continues to oppose China, as long as China gives Europe one or two hundred aircraft a year, there will be a market of three or four thousand aircraft in the next two decades, that is, a business of $4.5 trillion. Who is not jealous of such a large order? However, the United States will not get an order for one aircraft this time, and if the United States continues to oppose China, I am afraid that the Boeing market will be basically replaced by Airbus in the future.
3? The Chinese market is the future of Europe. There will be no good fruit to follow the United States
In 2022, when the world is looking forward to economic recovery, the global economy has encountered great challenges. In the first quarter, the U.S. economy grew negatively month on month, and the European economy also grew almost zero. In this case, whoever owns the market has the right to speak. China is not only the world’s largest market, but also the world’s largest potential market. The future of the world depends on China. For the European economy, it needs a huge incremental market to stimulate and stable market demand, which only China can provide, and the economies of China and Europe are highly complementary. In this case, it is obvious that the Chinese market is the future of Europe.
However, if Europe follows the United States and cooperates with the United States to create hostility like Russia and NATO, the European Union will lose the Chinese market. Imagine that China is the largest trading partner of the EU. What will happen if the EU loses China as a trading partner? It goes without saying, you can imagine!
Therefore, objectively speaking, it will be very miserable for the EU to follow the United States. Take Lithuania as an example, the trade between the neutral two countries is now infinitely close to zero. China accounts for a very small proportion of Lithuania’s national trade, but China is the EU’s most important trading partner. In this case, once there is a confrontation between China and Europe, the EU will not be so calm and calm.
Now, China’s $37billion contract is just the beginning. If major European countries, especially France and Germany, understand, they should see the strategic significance of the Chinese market to the EU economy, and they will not blindly become the cannon fodder of the United States and blindly oppose China. Not to mention other fields, the airliner market alone will be a trillion dollar market in the next 20 years. This is a piece of fat. The United States will not eat it for hegemony, and will the European Union not eat it for the United States?
In fact, after the NATO summit, the real battle is about to begin! It is inevitable that the United States is anti China, and China will not be polite to the United States, except for the European Union. For the European Union, it’s OK to have a mouth addiction from time to time. Don’t fool around with the United States.
The United States may be mad about this order. On the one hand, China’s order is a very accurate counterattack to the U.S. strategy of suppressing China, and the effect of the U.S. suppression of China will certainly be greatly reduced; On the other hand, China’s huge market stock and increment every year are no longer actively given to American enterprises. In this case, it is difficult to say whether the United States can support it!
The NATO summit treats China as an opponent, but the contest has just begun. China’s move is very clever, and the EU is also very cool. Only the United States is unhappy!