Economically decoupling China

THE very idea of economically decoupling China is rather odd and ludicrous.

From a purely economic standpoint, although the US still maintains an edge over China in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) by 4 trillion US$ in 2023, that alone is deceiving.

The current woes suffered by the US are rather long and lingering economic problems that began after the Second World War.

Admittedly, the US emerged as the only unscathed country during the Second World War. Its industries were able to escape the ravages of war, and its economy became much formidable.

As its economy became stronger, no sooner did it begin to assert its power and arrogance in 1944, or right after the Bretton-Woods Agreement was proclaimed, which allowed the US to fix its dollar to gold valued at $35 per ounce.

It was the first stepping stone that allowed the conversion of the dollar to becoming an international currency reserve.

For the US to zero-in on the threat of economic competition is incompatible to the concept of free enterprise, a long expounded ideological line of the Americans

The Bretton-Woods agreement led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which many underdeveloped countries suspect as the first institutionalized money-lending bank, owned and controlled by US bankers.

The IMF regularly lends out to other countries in the form of developmental loans which were usually undertaken, imposes interest rate to debtor countries; and if the loan is considered of high-risk, the IMF may demand the devaluation of its currency to meet its obligation which have severe economic implication to its own country.

Thus, for decades the IMF and other internationally-funded finance institutions like Asian Development Bank (ADB) have been allocating funds to its membercountries, yet many of them remained indebted for years with no progress in sight.

They remain in debt or chained in a debt trap.

As others observed, only those developed countries what have access to these financial institutions manage to take advantage of these loans to develop further their economic interests.

This resulted in an enormous disparity in the value of their exports with developing countries discriminately undervaluing their exports, resulting in perennial trade deficit, not to mention the surcharge imposed for the delay in payment.

Maybe the defeat of the US in the Vietnam War was a different circumstance that led to the downfall of the US dollar.

In 1973, US President Nixon announced that from then on, the US will forbid the

BRASILIA, Brazil—President

Luiz

Inacio Lula da Silva has been in diplomatic hyperdrive since taking office, making Brazil a key global player again—but stoking controversy with some of his stances, including on Ukraine and Venezuela.

Less than six months into his term, the veteran leftist has already met more foreign leaders than his predecessor, farright ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, did in four years—33 to 32, according to a count by newspaper O Globo.

Lula, who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010—when he also played a starring role in international affairs —will be in diplomatic dynamo mode again this week when he travels to Europe for meetings with Pope Francis at the Vatican and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

Since taking office in January, Lula, 77, has incessantly repeated that “Brazil is back” on the world stage, vowing a clean break with Bolsonaro, who often appeared internationally isolated, apart from his tight relationship with his