The hot topic in Washington these days has been the worsening “New Cold War” with China.

The signs are hard to ignore: the amplification of China’s space programs, the augmentation of its nuclear arsenal, and – most disturbingly – its encroachment on Taiwan and other neighbors in the contested South China Sea.

From regional spheres of competition in Africa – the continent with the fastest-growing population and GDP – to nuclear arsenal sizing and posture, Beijing consistently spearheads economic (and far more economical) strategies in this new “Great Game.”

Meanwhile, Washington stumbles and falls further behind by attempting military solutions that hardly ever solve much of anything, which should be exceedingly obvious after 20-plus years of interminable and often counterproductive global wars.

At this rate, 2022 might feel a lot like 1952, as the world, once again, witnesses two global superpowers locking ideological horns in their battle for economic and technological dominance. 

Echoes of Soviet conflicts past are felt in CIA director William J. Burns’ recent words, when he stated that “the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century [is] an increasingly adversarial Chinese government.”

The U.S. military and its civilian leaders are already waging this “New Cold War” wrong; particularly, by overemphasizing militarized responses to what’s largely an economic and diplomatic challenge.

Meanwhile China, despite the unsurprising modernization of its military arsenal, focuses on the very opposite.

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