At the crux of the Pacific cable cold war are two key issues: China`s insistence that the peaceful and democratic sovereign state of Taiwan be annexed plus the outlandish Chinese claims on the South China Sea which include virtually all of the territorial waters of Philippines and other states. The International Court rejected Chinese claims in 2016 as having no basis in facts or law. All of this unnecessary conflict appears driven by the Chinese government`s desire to create external enemies to divert attention from a shrinking and rapidly aging population (average age mid-century will be 50) and labor force and real growth rates falling from 10% per annum to 5% in less than a decade.
Source: Roderick Beck
