In recent years, China and the United States have been locked in an increasingly fierce battle to assume the role of global hegemon. Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) announced in 2013, Beijing is increasing its economic, political and social influence around the world, and in recent years the military aspects have slowly begun to emerge. For a long time, Washington did not want to deal with the idea in particular, and China seized the opportunity presented to it, intolerant of contradiction. Investments aimed at strengthening the country's power have appeared one after another around the world. Initially, the initiative focused mainly on Southeast Asia and the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, but after the first successes, Beijing expanded its plans to include Oceania and South America, which now includes the entire region. world.
The United States did not realize until late that the Belt and Road Initiative might be able to change Washington's positions as a great power, but in recent years it seems that the American machine has begun to wake up.
The White House and its allies are announcing competing ideas for the Belt and Road Initiative one after another, but their relevance appears limited at the moment. What could be a particularly sore point for America is that the Chinese have also appeared in regions of Central America and the Caribbean, considered the country's “backyard,” questioning centuries-old doctrines. We wrote about the regional competition between the two powers in more detail here:
