When Blinken argued in his famous speech in May 2022 about the new strategy of the United States toward China that China is a challenge to the international order and to the United States, he must have had in the back of his mind, whether intentionally or unconsciously, the understanding that this “challenge” is a challenge to Western superiority that lasted for centuries, undermining China and Arabs for centuries, and hence he dealt with it as a “threat.” That understanding of the rise of China as a threat to Western Superiority and the structure of superior–inferior relationships between nations, where the West played the role of the master, motivated him to draft a policy of containment of China to secure the continuity of the superiority of Western civilization and hence justifies the military and economic movements in Asia, including QUAD, AUKUS, IPEF, IMEC, and PGII, militarizing the Taiwan region, and deploying ballistic missiles in the Philippines. All these movements are motivated by “fear” of threat, not threat to existence, but to superiority. The United States is so afraid of becoming equal among equals that for that reason, they defend what they call “rules-based international order,” where these rules have shaped the international order based on superior–inferior and core–periphery relationships among nations, which guarantees the superiority of the West. The rise of China, yes, is a threat, but not to the United States and Western existence and values or political systems, but to their superiority and hegemony, which is good news to the global south, who could benefit from that for liberating itself from the subjugation in an ongoing struggle. Blinken’s strategy and thinking reflect how the liberal school of thought of the Democrats in the United States sees the international order, which perceives the world from the perspective of the superiority of Western values and the divine mission of the Western nations to defend its superiority, which shall prevail in the end, as Fukuyama suggested back in the 1990s, but the good news is that it is not the 1990s anymore; it is the third decade of the twenty-first century, which witnesses the rise of China and the global south. They have to let go and accept the reality that they will be, whether they accept or deny, equal among equals, whose values and models and way of life are not superior to others but equal to others; otherwise, amid their denial and resistance to this fact of equality, they could invite a clash invited by the resistance of the subjugated nations to the unjust structure of the international order in a struggle for final liberation. In Ibn Khaldun’s words, the West’s “Mulk” will be lost after centuries of superiority, but it doesn’t mean it will transfer to others; no single nation will achieve the “Mulk” over the others, but they will balance each other in a Qadesh-style international order.

The Rise of China and the Global South: Threat to Order or Threat to Hegemony?

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发表日期：

2025年

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Amr Mohieeldin

摘要

When Blinken argued in his famous speech in May 2022 about the new strategy of the United States toward China that China is a challenge to the international order and to the United States, he must have had in the back of his mind, whether intentionally or unconsciously, the understanding that this “challenge” is a challenge to Western superiority that lasted for centuries, undermining China and Arabs for centuries, and hence he dealt with it as a “threat.” That understanding of the rise of China as a threat to Western Superiority and the structure of superior–inferior relationships between nations, where the West played the role of the master, motivated him to draft a policy of containment of China to secure the continuity of the superiority of Western civilization and hence justifies the military and economic movements in Asia, including QUAD, AUKUS, IPEF, IMEC, and PGII, militarizing the Taiwan region, and deploying ballistic missiles in the Philippines. All these movements are motivated by “fear” of threat, not threat to existence, but to superiority. The United States is so afraid of becoming equal among equals that for that reason, they defend what they call “rules-based international order,” where these rules have shaped the international order based on superior–inferior and core–periphery relationships among nations, which guarantees the superiority of the West. The rise of China, yes, is a threat, but not to the United States and Western existence and values or political systems, but to their superiority and hegemony, which is good news to the global south, who could benefit from that for liberating itself from the subjugation in an ongoing struggle. Blinken’s strategy and thinking reflect how the liberal school of thought of the Democrats in the United States sees the international order, which perceives the world from the perspective of the superiority of Western values and the divine mission of the Western nations to defend its superiority, which shall prevail in the end, as Fukuyama suggested back in the 1990s, but the good news is that it is not the 1990s anymore; it is the third decade of the twenty-first century, which witnesses the rise of China and the global south. They have to let go and accept the reality that they will be, whether they accept or deny, equal among equals, whose values and models and way of life are not superior to others but equal to others; otherwise, amid their denial and resistance to this fact of equality, they could invite a clash invited by the resistance of the subjugated nations to the unjust structure of the international order in a struggle for final liberation. In Ibn Khaldun’s words, the West’s “Mulk” will be lost after centuries of superiority, but it doesn’t mean it will transfer to others; no single nation will achieve the “Mulk” over the others, but they will balance each other in a Qadesh-style international order.