Why do we need to revisit the Cold War?
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Why do we need to revisit the Cold War? Wei Li1 Received: 18 June 2020 / Accepted: 14 July 2020 © The Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), Peking University 2020
Abstract Since the beginning of 2018, China and the US have engaged in increasingly fierce strategic competition in the economic and security spheres. The competition has extended to the new field of values since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The escalating strategic competition will presumably evolve into a new Cold War between the two powers. The realization of a new Cold War will undoubtedly take a toll on not only the domestic development of the two countries, but also on the entire international society. Thus, it is of special significance to reexamine the origins and the tragic consequences of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. In view of the reams of narratives on the history of the Cold War, this paper focuses on how reexamining the Cold War can promote better understanding and management of today’s China–US relations. Keywords Strategic competition · New cold war · China–US relations
1 Introduction Although history might not simply repeat itself, this does not mean that historical analogies are meaningless. On the contrary, when a social scientist cannot understand the complicated and tumultuous world, it may be wise to calmly study and seek practical answers from history. Since Trump came to power, and especially since the end of 2017, China–US relations have witnessed historic changes, including the beginning of the largest tariff war in the history of international economic relations and the onset of an unprecedented technological war against China by the US. A financial war seems to be in the offing amid increasing financial frictions between the two giants in 2020. Furthermore, there has been a formidable contest between the two powers on security and political issues related to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea. The * Wei Li [email protected] 1
School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, No. 59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing, China
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China International Strategy Review
release of the United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China on May 20, 2020 marks, to some extent, the formation of the US’s competitive strategy against China (The White House 2020). The practice of China–US relations over the past 2 years has triggered several important academic and policy propositions: Will the comprehensive and accelerating strategic competition between China and the US evolve into a new Cold War? What are the consequences for world politics? How can a tragic China–US cold war be kept at bay?1 For the keys to these questions, we need to review the history of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union and learn modestly from experts on the Cold War.
2 Rethinking these Cold War and its origin The concept of the “Cold War”, which originated shortly after the end of the Second World War in 1946, emerged
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