[E764A5F6-6869-18E3-5A44-80B8FE68E521]

A Chinese policeman is on duty outside the gate of the former US Consulate General in Chengdu. (27 July 2020)

As the US and China close each other's consulates, the US and China conflict further deteriorate. America Secretary of State Pompeo last week called on the free world to join forces against communist China. A growing number of observers point out that the U.S.-China relationship is showing more and more Cold War characteristics. So will the world split into two opposing camps as it did during the Cold War?

"Five eyes alliance" step by step, the two camps initially appear?

New Zealand announced Tuesday (July 28) that it would suspend extradition treaties with Hong Kong in view of the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Act. After Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, New Zealand is the latest five-eye alliance member to suspend extradition agreements with Hong Kong.

[716034F5-362E-6CED-A85C-26314F221873]

After the United States announced the cancellation of Hong Kong's special status treatment, Canada followed the United States in announcing the suspension of the extradition treaty with Hong Kong. Also on 8 July, the "Five Eyes alliance" met to discuss the "situation in Hong Kong ". After the meeting, New Zealand said it would "re-examine the Hong Kong relationship ", Australia and the United Kingdom have announced a moratorium on extradition treaties with Hong Kong.

Australia filed a statement with the co-nationals on july 23th saying china's claims on the south china sea had no law basis. Australia has the same position on the South China Sea as the United States. The United States said on July 13 that China in the South China Sea many claims "illegal ", said that China is trying to build in the South China Sea" maritime empire ".

On July 14, British Culture Minister Oliver Dodden (Oliver Dowden) announced that Britain decided to stop using Huawei equipment in five G of construction.

America's allies are increasingly following in hong kong, Huawei 5G and the south china sea.

U.S. Think Tank Rand senior defense expert He Tianmu (Timothy Heath) believes that the United States and China conflict increasingly like the cold war, the embryonic form of the two camps is emerging.

He told VOA :" We see America and China economic separate. Both sides are trying to find allies and partners, and China is doing the same. We are beginning to see two camps emerge. The United States and China are forcing other countries to choose. It's not the kind of formal ally, it's becoming friends, they want to know'Are you a friend of China or a friend of the United States? Both countries are doing these things. Other countries are responding. "

The United States has clearly called on allies and partners to choose.

U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo, speaking in California on July 23, called on Western countries to join forces to deal with communism China.

"We can not repeat the mistakes of the past few years ," he said. Faced with China's challenges, democratic countries in Europe, Africa, South America, especially India and the Pacific need to make efforts and devote their energies. "

He added :" If we do not act now, in the end, Chinese Communist Party will erode our freedom and subvert the rule-based order that our societies have painstakingly built. If we bend our knees now, our future generations may be at the mercy of Chinese Communist Party, whose actions are the primary challenge of today's free world. "

Earlier, on 19 June, the United States Secretary of State Pompeo, at the Copenhagen Summit on Democracy, called on European allies to choose between "freedom and tyranny ", to stand out" and to "act decisively ".

[F2490636-B104-3B08-D1D6-6C0C6ED1D684]

At the Council of Common human rights, held in Geneva on 30 June, a contest between the two camps had emerged. Fifty-three countries in Belarus and Zimbabwe signed a statement in support of China's new national security law for Hong Kong. Twenty-seven democracies, led by britain, condemned hong kong's national security law, which includes most european democracies, plus japan, australia and new zealand.

[451E7B70-7FF5-F09B-9B1E-08A478FB8860]

On july 28th it was reported that the eu would also restrict exports to hong kong of technologies that could be used for repression or surveillance, the first concrete response to china's implementation of hong kong's national security law. But unlike the US, the EU has yet to offer direct action against China's government.

In the past two years, the EU's attitude towards China has shifted from "naive" to reality. In 2019, the EU designated China as a "system competitor ", and the EU established a foreign investment monitoring mechanism and put forward reciprocal requirements for China.

On June 22, at the China-EU Video Summit, the EU leader strongly expressed its position on issues such as human rights and false information propaganda, as well as its opposition to Beijing's plan to implement a national security law in Hong Kong, and urged China to fulfill its commitment to open its economic and make more efforts to complete the negotiations on the China-EU Investment Agreement.

The EU's growing trade assertiveness against China and a growing voice for reciprocity, Janka Oertel said at a seminar on how China views strategic competition with the U.S. at the US-China economic Security Review Commission in late June, offered the possibility of US-European cooperation, but did not automatically enhance its prospects.

EU member states are willing to work with China on issues of concern to European voters, such as climate change and a system-based multilateral order, Mr. Utter said. Uter said the last three years of U. S. policy have also caused great fatigue in Europe.

Since President Trump came to power, the United States has withdrawn from international organizations such as UNESCO, the human rights Council of Common Countries, and from international agreements such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the Open Skies Treaty. Recently, the United States also formally withdrew from the World Health Organization. Eutel believes that the "retreat" of the United States and the differences between the United States and Europe in trade have caused European people and policymakers to alienate the United States, making it difficult for Europe and America to join forces to take concerted action against China immediately.

"Although it is not feasible or desirable for Europe to maintain the same distance between the United States and China, the joint United States-China action against China is still limited at a time when trust on both sides of the Atlantic is declining ," she said. "

As for how europe will choose, the eu's top foreign-policy official, borelli (Josep Borrell), acknowledged in a blog post on june 19th that europe is under increasing pressure to choose between the us and china against the backdrop of a growing rivalry that has become the backbone of global politics.

But, he added, while countries on both sides of the Atlantic share values, Europe must position itself. "We need to strategically uphold and defend our interests and values ," he said. We must be guided by what the EU wants and needs, not by expectations or or pressures. "

"The fact that China does not propose ideological alternatives in Europe and does not constitute survival threat. Beijing seeks to trade and develop with Europe without political views economic relationship. In addition, Beijing recognizes the rights, of Europeans in world affairs and strongly supports multilateral institutions. For Europe, these institutions are already one of the few real foreign policy resources. Therefore, it is unreasonable for Europe to be involved in conflict with China without personal interests or values being threat.

Asia won't have a Berlin Wall. Lee Hsien Loong: Asian countries want to keep friendly relationship with the United States and China at the same time

It's not easy for Asian countries to choose between the US and China.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Lee Hsien Loong) said Tuesday (July 28) that Asian countries want to maintain friendly relationship. with the United States and China at the same time

"We have good relationship, with China, we all want to build good relationship. with China, but all of us have very deep relationship, with the United States and want to keep relationship ." with both countries at the same time ," he said

He said that at a video conference held by the United States Think Tank Atlantic Council. Then, he was asked how to look at the deteriorating US and China relationship. He said Asians were worried about two things, one thing is that the United States may with Chinese in Asia conflict. Second, the United States leave Asia, allowing Asian countries to protect themselves. If the new president comes to power and asks for his views, he hopes to tell the new president that stability and China's relationship are crucial.

He said ," I'll say three things. The first is to stabilize your relationship, with China because in the rest of Asia we rely on stable America and China relationship. so that we have a safe and predictable environment that enables us to live and live. It's a big request, but it's also important to the United States. "

Li Xianlong said the second thing he wanted to say was that the United States quickly formed a bipartisan consensus on U.S. policy in Asia and should not be change, stable and predictable with the change of government. Third, the United States rejoined the Trans-Pacific Partnership relationship Agreement.

Michel Flunova (Michele Flournoy), deputy secretary of policy at the U.S. Department of Defense minister. believes that because of the dependence of the U.S. and Chinese economic and the integration of China and global economic, it is difficult for other countries to choose between the United States and China.

"Our situation is very different from the cold war ," she said in a hearings on China's strategy on China's strategy by the U.S.-China economic Security Review Commission under the parliament. Even during the Cold War, the United States did not face economic on the scale of China. Unlike Soviet Union, Chinese economic have been deeply integrated with global economic and closely linked to our economic. Other countries will hesitate to choose between the US and China. They prefer the United States as their preferred security partner, while China is its main trading partner. There will be no Berlin Wall in Asia. "

Lee's article in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs in the United States is more explicit. If the US and China force Asian countries to choose, the expected "Asian century" is at stake, he said.

"Asian countries view the United States as a permanent power with important interests in the Asia-Pacific region and China as a reality at home ," he wrote. Other Asian countries do not want to be forced to choose between the two. If either side tries to force asian countries to make choices -- such as Washington trying to contain china's rise or beijing seeking to establish an exclusive sphere of influence in asia -- the us will embark on a decades-long standoff that threatens the long-anticipated asian century. "

However, Li Xianlong in the article, especially about the contribution of the United States to Asia. "America's generous, open policy has greatly benefited the Asia-Pacific region ," he wrote. These policies stem from deep-rooted political ideals and their self-image as'the city of the mountains' and'light to the nations', but they also reflect their wise self-interest. A stable and prosperous Asia-Pacific region, first a fortress against communism countries during the cold war, and then an important region of the world composed of many friendly, stable and prosperous countries to the United States. Asia and the Pacific region provides huge markets and important production for American enterprises base. No wonder the United States has the strongest allies in Asia, such as Australia, Japan and South Korea, and some long-term partners, such as Singapore. "

Cao xin, secretary-general of the international public opinion research center of chahar society, a chinese folk Think Tank organization, said in an article published on Financial Times 》. com that "li xianlong's affinity for america is evident ". "Once forced to make a choice, they may clearly choose the United States. "