, Columnist
U.S.-China Cold War Will Have More Than Two Sides
Countries aren’t going to fall neatly into opposing blocs this time any more than they did the last.
Fears of a domino effect ravaged Vietnam.
Photographer: Patrick Christain/Getty Images
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The cold war is back — or at least its rhetoric. U.S. President Joe Biden wants to forge an “alliance of democracies” against the world’s “autocracies.” The New York Times isn’t alone in thinking that “the world is increasingly dividing into distinct if not purely ideological camps, with both China and the United States hoping to lure supporters.”
This would be a profoundly disturbing development if true. The real danger ahead, however, is not so much a new cold war as binary modes of thinking that see stark divisions and antagonisms where none exist.