The American "Time" magazine published a joint article between the former commander of the Supreme Command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), retired Admiral James Stavridis, and the novelist, American soldier Elliot Ackerman, in which they said that the possibilities of an unintended war between the United States and China are real and growing. America must work diligently on developing a strategy in which the various diplomatic, economic and military tools of the state are used if it is to avoid being dragged into unintended war in the 21st century.
The article believes that China and the United States are on a collision course, and are likely to find themselves in a situation similar to a cold war in the near future, and they expect that this will lead to the outbreak of a fierce war between the two countries by 2034, in which nuclear weapons may be used.
And Henry Kissinger - the former US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser under President Nixon - said last year that the United States and China were on the verge of a cold war.
The epicenter of conflict
The Time article indicates that Washington and Beijing differ on a number of issues, including the status of the South China Sea, which China claims is within its territorial waters, which gives it control over the oil and gas reserves that the sea abounds in, and also gives it control over 40% of global trade that passes through Across this strategic sea.
While the United States and most of the countries of the world consider these waters international waters that everyone has the right to sail in.
China - whose warships exceed the number of America's ships - is working to rapidly expand its naval fleet, and is building artificial islands in many parts of the South China Sea to serve as strategic military points.
Despite the large number of files that are in dispute between Washington and Beijing and their diversity, Stavridis and Ackerman expect that the South China Sea will be the focus from which the spark of war between the two countries, due to the disputed waters, will start.
The United States conducts frequent patrols, which it calls "freedom of navigation," and its warships sail in disputed waters, often very close to the Chinese coast.
China views this as a violation of its territorial waters, so the Chinese navy and air forces usually respond to this aggressively.
Fuse of war
The two authors - who created a joint novel that predicts the future entitled "2034 Novel of the Next World War" (2034: A Novel of the Next World War) and talks about an armed and technological conflict between the United States and China - expected that America will continue to conduct its patrols, and to intend to pressure Its allies to participate in those patrols, in order to consolidate the principle of freedom of navigation on the high seas.
In this situation, either side, the Chinese or the American, can commit a mistake that is matched by a stronger response from the other side, which easily leads to an escalation.
According to the article, an accident such as the shooting down of a Chinese plane or the injury of an American destroyer by a Chinese missile if it does occur could result in deaths that inflame nationalist sentiments in both Beijing and Washington, especially in the wake of the US presidential elections in which the rhetoric of both Democrats and Republicans focused on China and the danger. Act it, and then it will be difficult to predict where things will turn out.