Semiconductor chips have come into the public consciousness due to an ongoing shortage of the essential tech. Yet the U.S. government has yet to expand domestic chip production, instead reinforcing punitive measures on China’s market-dominant chip industry.

Containment or isolation of the Chinese economy makes little sense because it means all countries will lose out from the reversing of globalization.

Growing tensions between China and the U.S. are nothing new, but the consequences of geopolitical exclusivity continue to compound. No country wants to be forced to choose between the first and second largest economy in the world.

The concept of two pillars has gathered momentum worldwide. China may get more tax revenues from the first reform, and the second will have minimal impact. Global tax reform will also have a negligible effect on China’s foreign investment.

China-U.S. relations are the main stress point in the present-day world, and the U.S. has yet to accept China’s bottom lines. While chilly political relations and warm economic ones are the new normal, it is still possible for the two to meet halfway.

China, the United States and India have different strategic goals and so their interests conflict — so much so that strategic suspicion has fostered a negative kind of competition in which the other side is labeled as a primary rival. Of course there is a way to break the impasse. But it boils down to whether the parties really want to.

Much has been said about Trump’s provocative methods in dealing with China, but the source of mistrust goes far beyond the outgoing President. Even as Biden takes office, the plethora of conflicts between the U.S. and China threaten to escalate the struggle between two global powers who vie for global influence.

The world hopes to see reduced friction between the United States and China in the post-pandemic era. If the next U.S. administration can invest seriously in international cooperation, new paths for joining hands and lifting humanity will emerge.

The pandemic has become a catalyst that’s driving people to reflect on the whole concept of globalization. It may be that the system we have lived with for 40 years has reached the end of its cycle.

Globalization is going to continue, but some rules and practices may need to be adjusted. The world should be open to such adjustments but continue to oppose economic nationalism and trade protectionism.