The world "revolves around" the China-US relationship

(Baonghean) - Last week, the world paid the most attention to Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the US - something that is not difficult to understand, when in addition to the official working content between the two top leaders, this event "dragged along" "satellite" moves that impacted the world.

On Tuesday, September 22, the first day of the Chinese President's state visit to the United States, a Chinese corporation signed a contract to purchase 300 Boeing aircraft from the United States, according to an official Chinese news agency. This is known to be one of the largest orders recorded by the aviation industry in recent years. At the same time, the People's Daily also reported that ICBC Leasing - an aircraft leasing company - has decided to buy 30 737-800NG medium-range aircraft.

Mr. Xi Jinping and Mr. Obama at a joint press conference at the White House. Photo: Reuters

Chinese media also reported that Boeing has reached a cooperation agreement to open a material surface treatment plant for the B737 medium-haul aircraft in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. If this information is correct, this will be the first such plant outside the US and a move in Boeing's new strategy. China has always been considered an important market where Boeing and its European rival Airbus are constantly competing. Since 2008, Airbus has opened an assembly line for the A320 medium-haul aircraft in Tianjin and is preparing to open a specialized material surface treatment center for the interior of the A330 large aircraft.

According to Boeing's calculations, China will need about 6,330 new civil aircraft in the next 20 years, equivalent to a value of up to 950 billion dollars - a bargain that neither Airbus nor Boeing will easily ignore. That is why the two aviation giants are racing to China and fiercely competing for market share. So surely Xi's visit to the US this time is a great opportunity to promote Boeing to the mainland market. Moreover, Xi Jinping started his visit by meeting with high-tech businesses in Seattle, instead of immediately holding talks with President Obama in Washington.

Although Xi’s main goal is to bridge the gap and suspicions of American society and politics through business circles, he will not ignore the direct economic benefits that can be achieved without being entangled in politics and diplomacy – issues that are still considered sensitive between the world’s two leading powers. Even if Xi was not directly present at the above transaction, this coincidence in timing is difficult to consider as a pure coincidence.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, September 24, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves le Drian stated that “the most important issue for our armed forces today is to enter the digital war.” This statement was made at a conference held at the Military College, attended by 20 foreign “cyberwar commanders”, including allies from the Maghreb and the Gulf.

“There are two issues that we need to address together: IS and Russian mafia,” said Admiral Arnaud Coustilliere. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said the UK was preparing to revise and renew its defense and security strategy and “invest heavily in digital defense capabilities.” At the same time, the UK and France also announced closer cooperation in the fields of intelligence and cyber security.

The reason why the digital space has become such a central issue is because it is also one of the methods, spaces for the dissemination and operation of criminal, terrorist and extremist organizations. However, if we know how to exploit this space, it will also be a gap to attack the above elements. The most specific example is that currently, intelligence and digital attack activities always play a "pioneering" and "reconnaissance" role in guiding attacks on the ground. Before the Mirage 200 planes bombed IS bases, the computer system of this organization had been hacked beforehand.

Given the increasingly complicated situation in the Middle East, especially the hot spot of Syria which has been heating up in recent days with the increased intervention of Russia, it is completely understandable that the West is discussing new methods, strategies and solutions. But at the same time, another issue that worries countries is the security of national information against elements, non-governmental organizations and even other countries. Europe and the US were once in tension with each other when the archives of stolen information were revealed to the world by Edward Snowden - a former CIA employee. Most recently, it was the US's turn to become a victim of cybercrime - a group of Chinese hackers, believed to be involved with the Beijing government.

Obviously, being attacked in cyberspace is a nightmare for every country, so when the leaders of the US and China met on September 25, with the topic of cyber security at the top of the agenda, everyone turned their attention to this. However, until now, the official announcement of the agreements that the two sides reached on the issue of cyber security is still not specific, leaving a question mark for observers: did they not reach any significant agreement or did they reach an agreement without making it public to the world?

Finally, an event in the US political scene took place at the end of Xi’s trip: US House Speaker John Boehner resigned after months of opposition from the Republican Party’s right wing. This is the clearest sign that the party is in turmoil and on the verge of “disintegration”.

The reason for this internal party conflict is due to the agreements reached with the Democrats to ensure the operation of the federal government. Meanwhile, the minority right wing represented by the Freedom Caucus believes that Mr. John Boehner has not fulfilled his responsibility to protect conservative values. In fact, this minority group has repeatedly tried to "overthrow" the head of the House of Representatives in January 2015 and most recently this past September. Although they were all unsuccessful, this internal division has "fueled" other candidates in the race to the White House in 2016 such as Donald Trump, Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina.

The “last straw” was when federal agencies would have to shut down if the US Congress did not pass a budget for next year. This was also an excuse for the right wing of the Republican Party to threaten the leader of the House of Representatives, who tended to side with Mitch McConnell - the leader of the majority in the Senate - arguing that the debate on conservative values ​​​​should be temporarily put aside to ensure the operation of the federal state is not interrupted.

Thus, leaving the House of Representatives seat, John Boehner is also forced to give up the position of Ohio representative, which he has held continuously for the past 20 years. The decision to resign was made one day after Pope Francis visited and spoke before the US Congress. A significant change in US politics will certainly be closely watched by China, whose biggest goal is to establish a "new type of great power" relationship with the US. While Democratic President Obama is considered quite open to cooperation, the suspicion and antipathy of the Republican Party towards China is still a wall that is not easy to overcome. Therefore, from now until 2016 when the presidential election takes place, China certainly will not ignore the changes in US politics.

Thuc Anh

(According to Le monde)