Ever since the United States became the world's superpower, it seems to have an inexplicable fear of being second .

There were once four countries and an alliance that were once the "second largest in the world" , but they were all eventually brought down by the United States. Now that China has become the world's second largest economy, the United States has naturally become anxious.

Why does the United States always pick on the "second largest economy"? Will China follow in its footsteps?

How did the United States bring down the world's second largest economy?

As the only superpower in the world today, the United States is in a leading position in many areas including economy and military.

The total GDP of the United States is as high as 27 trillion US dollars. In global foreign exchange transactions, the US dollar accounts for nearly 90% of the market share.

In addition, the United States’ multinational corporations and military bases are spread all over the world, exerting a profound impact on some regions and even the world.

However, such a superpower has not tolerated the existence of any "second" in the past hundred years. It can be said that whoever is the "second" will be beaten.

The United States has also successively brought down the four "world's second largest economies", namely Britain, the Soviet Union, Japan and the European Union . The United States has used a variety of means to suppress the "world's second largest economies".

Once upon a time, Britain, as an old colonial empire with colonies all over the world, was known as the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets" and once became the most powerful country in the world.

However, the two world wars severely damaged Britain, and the United States made a fortune during World War I and World War II and took the opportunity to rise.

After its rise, the United States, relying on its strong economic power and gold reserves, deliberately squeezed the weak Britain. Through the Bretton Woods system , the United States established a hegemonic trade system centered on the US dollar, thus officially replacing the international status of the pound and ushering in the era of the US dollar.

Since then, the United States has relied on its hegemony to continuously disintegrate the British economic system and reshape the world pattern, eventually reducing Britain to a second-rate country that can only develop with difficulty under the shadow of the United States.

After World War II, the Soviet Union, relying on the development of its domestic heavy industry, once became one of the two polar countries in the world with the United States, and the two countries engaged in multi-faceted competition.

During the Cold War, the United States launched an all-out "war" against the Soviet Union . Both sides used their national strength to develop nuclear weapons and competed fiercely in the number of nuclear weapons.

The United States also proposed the "Star Wars" plan, claiming to establish a space defense system, inducing the Soviet Union to increase its research in space and increasing the Soviet Union's economic burden.

At that time, the Soviet Union was a major oil exporter , and half of its income came from oil. However, the United States joined forces with Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich countries to lower global oil prices, causing the Soviet Union to gradually reduce its source of income.

The United States also joined forces with NATO and other alliances to bring countries around the Soviet Union into its own camp, thereby isolating the Soviet Union internationally and supporting opposition organizations within the Soviet Union in an attempt to disintegrate the Soviet Union from within.

The United States tried every possible means, both in terms of ideology and weaponry, to drag the Soviet Union into a ditch.

Eventually, the Soviet Union collapsed under internal and external difficulties, and the United States once again dominated the world.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States began to support Japan's economic development, and Japan's economy took off. Subsequently, many multinational companies emerged in Japan, gradually dominating the market share with their excellent management models.

Seeing that its little brother was developing so rapidly, the United States joined other countries to impose tariffs on Japan and restrict Japanese products from entering the US market.

At the same time, the United States also investigated and sanctioned Japanese companies through anti-dumping and other means, causing huge losses to Japanese companies.

The United States also carried out "cultural transformation" in Japan , instilling American values in all aspects, weakening Japan's national spirit, and making Japan ideologically submissive to the United States.

In this way, the Japanese economy suffered a severe blow, the economic bubble burst, and it fell into a period of stagnation for nearly 20 years , and has not yet completely emerged from the haze.

When the EU was rising, the United States felt deeply threatened and used a series of means such as NATO to provoke trade disputes with Europe, divide the EU's internal unity, restrict the EU's development, and force the EU to obey the United States in everything.

Will China follow suit?

Today, after reform and opening up, China's GDP has achieved rapid growth. In 2010, it surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest economy . Now China's GDP scale is still increasing in the global economy.

Moreover, the Chinese economy now accounts for a considerable share of the global industrial chain, and China has reached the forefront of the world in fields such as artificial intelligence, 5G communications, semiconductors, etc., posing a constant threat to the dominance of the United States.

Now the United States has regarded China as its "number one rival" and is on edge and in a state of panic all day long, fearing that China will surpass them.

Although there are serious differences between the two parties in the United States, they have shown a high degree of "unity" when it comes to the issue of China . Containing China has become the number one priority for the United States.

Whether it is the US presidential election or small technological products, anything related to China can become the focus of the United States.

The United States has now used almost all the methods it can. It is treating China the same way it did to Britain, the Soviet Union, Japan and the European Union in the past.

The United States has imposed high tariffs on Chinese products in many areas, some of which are as high as 100%.

In addition, the United States frequently conducts various trade investigations against China, such as 301 investigations and anti-dumping . Recently, the United States has also imposed sanctions on Chinese companies such as Tencent and CATL, unreasonably suppressing Chinese companies in an attempt to curb the development of Chinese high-tech companies.

At present, the global influence of the Chinese renminbi is steadily increasing. The renminbi ranks second in global trade financing, surpassing the euro.

The RMB has become the world's fifth largest international reserve currency, and more and more countries are using RMB for settlement.

Therefore, the internationalization of the RMB is the last thing the United States wants to see, so the United States is trying every means to suppress China and try to make China follow in the footsteps of Britain, the Soviet Union, Japan and the European Union.

This is not only a challenge facing China, but also a focus of attention from the whole world. After all, the direction of the two major economies of China and the United States will affect the future global landscape.

China will also continue to strengthen diplomatic communication and coordination, deepen political mutual trust, jointly oppose U.S. unilateralism and bullying, and make greater contributions to maintaining world peace and stability.

References:

Shangguan News: 2025-01-05: What is the intention behind the US abusing "national security" to suppress Chinese companies and provoke confrontation?

Overseas Network: 2024-11-07: China's economic growth "internal strength" will break the "hidden arrows" of US suppression and containment