In today's world, the united states is the most resilient resistance from the perspective of china, and a declining europe still has more than its capacity to fail. China therefore needs europe. But the greatest difficulty in playing europe is its civilizational character。
There is a highly condensed and fairly spiritual geopolitical metaphor for the civilized character of the great powers in international relations: russia plays chess, the united states plays cards and china plays chess. It provides a vivid overview of the fundamental differences among the three countries in strategic thinking, the way they behaved and the game philosophy, and reveals a very different bottom logic in the face of the world chess game。
Chess is a zero-sum game against straight-line logic and the goal is to kill the king of the other side. The strategic thinking that symbolizes russia is extremely focused on geo-buffer zones and hard power collisions, and is good at accurately calculating conversion power (e. G. Force, territory) in the face of a conflict. The disadvantage, however, is that tactical transparency is easy to predict and is often caught up in a “must win” war of consumption, without flexibility. This is evident in the russian-uu conflict。
Pokering is a game of pressure and psychology, with the core not killing the opponent, but bluffing and leverage management. This symbolizes the united states ' ability to create uncertainty, to exert maximum pressure through financial hegemony, military deterrence and information warfare, and to view diplomacy as a game that continues to raise the stakes and force the other side to abandon it. This style is flexible and aggressive, but it is highly dependent on the “phobia” of the opponent, and once it is discovered, the leverage (credit) is rapidly devalued if local conflicts persist. This is typical of the ongoing american-iranian conflict。
Chess, which are characterized by layout and the accumulation of power, also seek not to kill individual pieces, but rather to “strength” and balance the whole picture. This is a symbol of china's long-cycle strategy and its ability to change the overall environment through entanglement and infiltration in areas that seem irrelevant, such as infrastructure, economics and trade. By placing the other side in a situation of “absorption”, without rushing to “death” or “show”. Such thinking is extremely patient and focuses on “two lives” for both. China's initiatives along the way, global port construction, and high-tech global layouts with the strategy of “rural encircling cities” can all be called classics。
So the game of great powers is not only a race of strength, but also of deep culture, and it is at the heart of the game of the great powers of research and painting. As a result of russia’s deep conflict, it is no longer the world’s leading player, and now the important third party is the eu。
While both the european union and the united states are western, homogenous, have shared values and institutions and are christian, the underlying cultural logic is very different from that of the united states。
Because of the large number of eu countries, and because of its history, germany has little say in international affairs, and france, which has the strongest combined power, including military and diplomatic power, can be represented。
It is difficult for us to define france by a metaphor or a word, but it can be read in the context of specific diplomatic events and in contrast to the united states. From the chinese point of view, the most typical event was china, china and the united states。
It was established in 1964 and in 1979. United states president nixon visited china in 1972 and french president pompidou was late in 1973. At the time of nixon's visit to china, owing to the lack of diplomatic relations between the two sides, he could not be treated by the führer of the gun and the red carpet, and the slogan “u. S. Imperialism” remained visible at the airport. Moreover, the united states was the most powerful country in the west and the world, but he remained the first to visit china. It took china nine years for the head of state to visit china for reasons that were based on the so-called principle of mutual interest. Moreover, the visit to china by french president pompidou in 1973 was possible, with a special push factor: he suffers from a terminal illness, which will not last long, and he will regret for life。
It is clear that france is re-establishing the form of engagement, while the united states is seeking substantial cooperation。
Of course, this is related to different national strategic objectives. France's core claim is to highlight its “independentness”. Dé gaulle, despite pressure from the united states, took the lead in recognizing the new china as a sign of france's desire to define the international order itself and to declare its political posture and principles of non-observation of the united states. The strategic gains at the symbolic level are far higher than those of specific transactions。
The united states, for its part, was to strategically unite china in its response to the soviet union, while at the same time unlocking it from viet nam, with specific major interests。
But the real reason is the genetic differences between civilizations in strategic thinking, game philosophy。
From the time of immigration to the americas, survival has long been the first priority, and it has also shaped the strong realism of the united states since then, with no concern for the “diplomatic face” or for the possibility of a substantial alliance between china and the sudan in the context of the cold war, which is a pragmatic “discussion of name and territorial effectiveness”. The reason why the french president was prevented from visiting china was, in the eyes of the americans, incredible and foolish. Moreover, “formal diplomatic recognition” is an important bargaining chip, and the united states must hold firm until the benefits are maximized。
France is a typical old european model: although it is no longer the dominant, the shelf still has to hold. This is reflected not only in the visit to china, but also in the games built between the two sides. The united states and mainland china have been cut off from the authorities of the taiwan national party. But when france and china entered into negotiations, de gaulle repeatedly argued that france’s face and dignity should not be compromised, that taiwan should not be abandoned under china’s so-called pressure to show the world that it was france’s initiative and honourable foreign policy adjustment. Last but not least, a pragmatic and flexible china has offered to break it before resolving the obstacles to mutual engagement。
In general, the european macro-strategy, represented by france, is not weak, but at the same time it is tied to externalism, rigid principles and even obstacles to the achievement of strategic goals。
The main external force that can affect china’s recovery today is the us and europe. The united states is a relatively simple country, which either fights or fights first, then negotiates pragmatically, and does not judge who is wrong or wrong and gives way to reiko. As long as the interests reach compromise, the parties can make peace。
But europe is much more complex, which is called “again and again”. While interests are at the heart of the game, they are extremely difficult to compromise, and even a compromise may not necessarily make friends. In the case of the russian-uu conflict, for example, when the deadlock between the two sides became a bottomless hole, the united states withdrew from the damage and entered into peace talks with russia. But europe, which has suffered from shocks and major consequences, would prefer to continue to sustain an endless war in the face of ukraine, which is neither a member of the european union nor of nato, on its own. Russia and europe have not yet been able to conduct diplomatic negotiations。
Thus, this civilizational character of europe has become the main obstacle to central european relations。
