Читать книгу Financial Cold War. A View of Sino-US Relations from the Financial Markets онлайн

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Third, to the extent that a state of ‘Cold War’ exists today, it is hardly ‘new’. A central theme of this book is that widening wealth and income inequality in both countries has been a major factor underlying current Sino-US tensions. At the root of rising inequality are the cumulative imbalances created by the structure of the global financial system and national economic policies, which have built up over many decades. That is not to say that there are not other sources of tensions between the two countries. Great Power relations are inextricably tied to historical contexts and are influenced by numerous internal and external factors, as well as the characters of political leaders. Some focus on a schism between America's liberal democracy and China's one-party state. However, while this difference in political models is a determinant of how the two societies individually operate and can be mobilised, it is not in itself an inherent source of conflict. Instead, throughout the history of human civilisation, the division of material wealth and resources between and within societies has repeatedly been found at the heart of major clashes, and this is the dimension of Sino-US relations on which this book is focused.