Fundamental question is will US be ever able to come to terms with a world in which US is not the dominant world power?
Practically if you look at the British or Russians, it doesn't seem to make much difference to the lives of ordinary people, the losing of 'world power' status.
I think one missing key aspect is: will the US be ever able to come to terms with _an authoritarian_ power being the dominant world power?
There was a lot of optimism around China (much like there is today with Japan) in the 2000's and early 2010's, but their continued lean towards authoritarianism and regional aggression (Taiwan, South China Sea, Philippines, etc) has definitely soured that view.
From a 50+ year historical standpoint it seems even more than philosophy that the two should get along.
Not confident in my understanding though, isn't there more to current politics than recent events and the last 30 years? Wondering if and suspecting there's something with more predictive value than online headlines and pundits.
Demographics clearly -- TFR types of analysis seem compelling, although that's on a longer time frame than current tensions.
Maybe Red Dawn had it right.
Col. Tanner: Two toughest kids on the block, I guess. Sooner or later they gonna fight. Jed: That simple? Col. Tanner: Maybe somebody just forgot what it was like.
Also China was abused by the west prior to that, though mostly Europe so there is probably no love lost there.
I would recommend Frank Dikötter books on China, The Tragedy of Liberation, Mao's Great Famine, and The Cultural Revolution.
Some of it is the unresolved territorial dispute over Taiwan.
Some of it is opposing economic competition.
Some of it is bi-directional; there used to be a lot more rapprochement until relatively recently, but changes in internal CCP politics have led to China using an external enemy to bolster internal unity. An exact mirror of the US in this regard.
Hopefully it will remain no hotter than the odd "shoving war" that Chinese and Indian border guards engage in, at a remote border post where neither side is allowed guns.
In fact, if "the state/people own the means of production" had been the only aspect of communism (and not the totalitarian dictatorial governments), I doubt the Cold War would've been as serious.
What commonalities do you think there are?
Beneath a few layers of culture it seems the internal values of the two countries are very similar and fairly compatible.
Maybe that breeds contempt but seems like there is plenty of room for the two countries to play together nicely especially if they make progress on their faults. In spite of the online acrimony, each side seems to understand well enough its own and the other's faults, and they generally seem to be trying to work on their own faults as much as working on each others'.
This seems like a relationship that may come to blows but should be salvageable, especially if the blows can be softened or avoided perhaps altogether.