From a bipolar world between 1945 and 1989, divided between the United States and the Soviet Union, to a unipolar one after the latter’s collapse, there is now enough evidence to suggest the return of bipolarity: Two superpowers competing to control and shape the world order. The US-China rivalry has increasingly been characterised as the Group of Two, now even by US President Donald Trump, who framed his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday as the “G2”. There are expectations and fears in some quarters that the G2 implies a system in which the US and China strike bargains and collude to manage the world on their own terms. However, the structural competition between the two — both seeking dominance in military, advanced technologies, trade networks, and supply chains — is too intense for them........

© Indian Express