“Stories affect our psychology, and psychology changes the world. And this is more true today than anywhere else in U.S.-China relations,” comments the Financial Times, citing the book Accidental Conflict, recently written by former Morgan Stanley Asia head and Yale University professor Steven Roach.

Roach takes a psychological look at the escalating friction between the two countries, culminating in the cancellation of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s trip to Beijing after a Chinese balloon was spotted in US airspace. Washington considers it a tool of espionage.

The author compares the reaction and, in general, the increase in tension in bilateral Sino-US diplomatic relations in recent years with the position of an insecure couple in a phase of conflict, but also interdependence.

China and Washington need each other for reasons they don’t want to admit.

The US economy lacks savings and “lacks a certain amount of economic self-awareness,” writes Roach, who believes Washington is concerned about China’s development goals, which include using its own reserves so that they can divert capital away from the dollar. .

At the same time, China lacks sufficient domestic support for consumer growth, and Beijing fears it is threatened by US tariffs. He is right. While US politicians of both parties love to accuse China of stealing jobs, America itself has chosen to build an economy based more on asset inflation than income growth.

Foreign capital helped make waste possible. The US debt to GDP ratio has grown by 95% since 2000 and is now higher than before the financial crisis. Public debt increased by 0.7 times, mainly due to the crisis, as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the McKinsey Global Institute, household and financial sector debt has declined from its pre-2008 peak, but is still higher than pre-2000.