A number of factors have pushed the US towards more confrontation with China.

For most observers of the unfolding trade war between the U.S. and China, the casus belli is the convergence of China’s unfair trade practices with U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist credo. But this reading misses a critical development: the demise of America’s decades-long policy of engagement with China.

The relationship is now one of competition and change.

There is no direct geostrategic competition between China and the United States.

He is not so different from his predecessors – he just cares less about covering his unilateralist, protectionist, and hegemonist inclinations.

US policy towards China is marred by flawed and unrealistic goals.

Substantial political controls over Chinese businesses may prove incompatible with a creative, innovative economy.

There is no country that could defeat the US, except the US itself.

2018 is proving to be a tense and complex year for relations between the U.S. and China. British historian Herbert Butterfield came up with five enduring lessons of history which remind us of the fragility of international order, the incalculable consequences of war, and the temptations of power. As both American and Chinese diplomats negotiate the intricacies of today’s questions, they would do well to keep these lessons in mind.

But no one should be tempted by exaggerated projections of Chinese power. If the US maintains its alliances with democratic Japan and Australia and continues to develop good relations with India, it will hold the high cards in Asia. In the global military balance, China lags far behind, and in terms of demography, technology, the monetary system, and energy dependence, the US is better placed than China in the coming decade. In the Soft Power 30 index, China ranks 25th, while the US is third.