by For years, the U.S. and China have waged war over technology, trade, and capital markets. Tensions between the world’s leading economies reached a fever pitch during former president Trump’s term in office, leading to escalating tariffs and trade restrictions.But now, a new revelation will have Washington scratching its head again: China has been vastly outspending the United States in renewable energy R&D.According to BNEF data cited by Bank of America in a recent report, for every dollar that the U.S. spent on renewable energy research between 2010 and 2020, China spent two, making it by far the leading investor in renewable energy around the world.BofA says in this new climate war, China hopes to gain the upper hand in supply chain dominance, carbon-related trade tariffs, and
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For years, the U.S. and China have waged war over technology, trade, and capital markets. Tensions between the world’s leading economies reached a fever pitch during former president Trump’s term in office, leading to escalating tariffs and trade restrictions.But now, a new revelation will have Washington scratching its head again: China has been vastly outspending the United States in renewable energy R&D.
According to BNEF data cited by Bank of America in a recent report, for every dollar that the U.S. spent on renewable energy research between 2010 and 2020, China spent two, making it by far the leading investor in renewable energy around the world.
BofA says in this new climate war, China hopes to gain the upper hand in supply chain dominance, carbon-related trade tariffs, and domestic-focused manufacturing policies.
Global supremacy
According to BofA, it’s not just the need to mitigate the effect of climate change. The biggest motivating factor in fact, is quite different: Attaining energy independence and global supremacy....
The so-called ‘Cold War 2.0’ brewing between the US and China/Russia bears little resemblance to the post Second World War scenario. The present scenario is different in two fundamental ways: it does not have roots in two opposing ideologies of communism and capitalism, with one trying to overwhelm the other, and it is least about establishing military superiority in terms of achieving a permanent nuclear edge over the rival bloc. The current phase of rivalry between the US and China/Russia is more about preserving US unilateral hegemony over economy, technology and global sphere of influence than about military’s offensive and defensive capabilities. The rise of China and Russia challenges the US more in terms of the latter’s unilateral domination in essentially non-military fields, although both economy and technology have military implications as well. Accordingly, whereas the first Cold War included nuclear armament control treaties, the ‘Cold War 2.0’ is more about trade paces and tussle over technology such as 5G. Also, whereas the focus of the Cold War was Europe, the ‘Cold War 2.0’ is developing in Asia & the Pacific, the emerging centre of the world’s economic growth.China has already surpassed the US based on PPP rather than GDP, and China is still a "poor" country, even though its middle class is over about 400 million, more than the entire population of the US. But leaves some 600 million below middle class, although China has eliminated "absolute poverty." The US can't complete with such a population differential, which India has also. As de-colonization advances, the torch passes to Asia. The US answer?? Continue to impose colonization on the Global South and East. Chance of it succeeding? Zero. Who lost China? No one. It's a natural process of history.Therefore, were about it solely military superiority in terms of numbers, the US clearly has it. The US has about 20 times the number of nuclear warheads as China. It has twice the tonnage of warships at sea, including 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers compared with China’s two carriers. As compared to China’s 600 fighter jets, the US has 2,000. With its 800 overseas military bases, the US is much better placed to use its military force on global scale than China can with its three overseas bases.
However, in terms of economy and technological advancement, China is all set to surpass the US by the end of this decade; hence, the increasing US sense about resisting this loss of domination.