There has been plenty of hand-wringing in the West about the prospect of China displacing — or at least rivaling — the United States as the world’s leading superpower.
But the evolving security crisis in the Red Sea makes clear that this remains a distant prospect.
China, with a trade-led economy dependent on the free flow of commerce through chokepoints like the Bab el-Mandeb strait off Yemen, relies on the United States to protect international sea lanes.
Instead, it seems content to largely sit back and offer veiled criticism of the U.S. military response.
Beijing is playing a cynical game, free-riding on the same American power that it holds in contempt, trying to have it both ways.
Organizations:
U.S
Locations:
China, United States, chokepoints, Yemen, U.S, East, Europe, Red, Djibouti, Beijing