Why it matters: Escalating antagonism between the world’s two superpowers is likely to hinder global cooperation to fight climate change, divert resources to costly arms and tech races, complicate diplomacy for U.S. allies, and victimize Chinese and American citizens living in each other’s countries.
Driving the news: A report this weekend that China had tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile immediately drew comparisons to the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite, which raised alarms that the U.S. was falling behind in a technology race.
Yes, but: “This is not a Sputnik moment,” Joshua Pollack, a leading expert on nuclear and missile proliferation, told Axios. “The point about Sputnik is that the Soviets had beaten us to the punch, they put the first satellite up. … Weapons payload aside, this is old hat for the United States.”
Context: The missile launch is only the latest in a series of major headlines shaking the foundations of the U.S.-China status quo.
- Satellite images recently showed hundreds of new nuclear missile silos in western China.
- Recent months have seen a dramatic spike in Chinese incursions near Taiwanese air space.
- In September, the U.S., U.K., and Australia announced a new security pact, referred to as AUKUS, aimed at countering China in part through the transfer of U.S. nuclear submarine technology to Australia.
- Even NATO, the quintessential Cold War-era alliance, is expanding its focus to include Beijing.
The bottom line: The U.S.-China relationship has deteriorated significantly over the past five years, but we’re not yet doomed to repeat the past.