An epochal challenge and a clash of the titans. The relationship between the United States and China is a complex relationship of competition and competitiveness, of respected but not shared values. At the June 3 meeting, “US-China: disorder and the 21st century” an open confrontation was staged between those who foresee more Atlanticist scenarios and those who grant ample chances of dominance to the Chinese model. The speakers of the panel, coordinated by Riccardo Barlaam, editor-in-chief of Sole 24 Ore, (Alberto Forchielli, founding partner of Mindful capital partners, Michele Geraci, economist and professor at Nyu in Shanghai, Alec Ross, professor at Bologna Business school, and Giorgio Prodi , professor at the University of Ferrara and BBS Director of Asia and Pacific relations) described the delicate intertwining of Sino-American relations and told, often through personal experiences, the strength of both models. Western and Chinese.
Asia, Africa and Russia will be more Chinese
Alec Ross, while recognizing the importance of the competitor China, has chosen a tranchant mode: «The world will no longer become Chinese, they are very strong in productions, but not in inventions. Let’s think of vaccines, the world of genomics, renewable energy: the Chinese have not made great inventions. Europe, in this confrontation between the United States and China, must not be an arbiter, because in history it has been able to combine science and humanism and therefore can continue and strengthen this model “.
According to many observers, the strength of the Chinese economy is explained by the implementation of an authoritarian model combined with the strength of skills. With inexorably high costs in terms of democratic principles: “There is freedom of speech, there is no freedom after speech” is more than a gag.
However Alberto Forchielli, a profound connoisseur of both models, gives a strong judgment: “The world will be more Chinese: Asia, Russia, Africa will gravitate more and more into the Chinese orbit, Latin America will be disputed and the Europe will be a land of conquest. Of course, we Europeans have a model of democracy that must be preserved, in an Atlanticist logic, but I feel a loser », in the face of the strength of numbers. Michele Geraci brings other considerations which, however, converge in recognizing the extraordinary strength of the Chinese: “geography and democracy are strong factors, certainly to the advantage of China. And then the model that they propose in times of war, many countries like: «We Chinese will perhaps be imperialists, with the relaunch of the Silk Road, we generate deficits in the trade balances of others, true. And our social networks are not exactly free. But we don’t plant bombs and we don’t participate in conflicts ».
Winners and losers
Here, the message pays off. Giorgio Prodi’s is instead a position that goes beyond the rivalry: «There must not be a winner and a loser, between the United States and China. It’s a wrong way, we will have to make these two models coexist. “The debate will remain open but the strength and commitment of young Chinese people, beyond the conferences, gives a clear idea: Chinese libraries, at 2 am, they are full of students.