China is waging a "quiet kind of Cold War" against the US, exploiting all avenues of power to replace the US as the leading power in the world, Michael Collins, deputy assistant director of the CIA's East Asia mission center, said at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday. 

Washington has persecutory delusions - viewing any power with different political systems from itself, be it Russia or China, as its potential enemy. "Enemy" seems to be the strongest stimulant for the US to build consensus and seek impetus. Turning matters upside down is the most-used trick by Washington to forge a united front against Beijing.

The term "Cold War" was coined by English writer George Orwell in his essay "You and the Atomic Bomb" in 1945. Describing a world in the shadow of nuclear anxiety, Orwell warned of a "peace that is no peace," which he called a permanent "Cold War." Orwell referred to that war as an ideological confrontation between the Soviet Union and the West.

Beijing has no intention of converting Washington's political system to socialism. Common development is what China has been pursuing and this is why the country opened up its economy in 1978 and joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. It is Washington that has been endeavoring to transform China into a country with Western-style political system. 

A Cold War also means a balance of nuclear power. The massive destruction of nuclear weapons has deterred relevant countries from waging a real war. This is absolutely not what is happening between China and the US. In an era of globalization, the interests of Beijing and Washington have been closely intertwined and such interdependence is exerting tremendous effects on the development of the two countries and the whole world, of which the ongoing trade spat is strong evidence. 

China has reiterated that it pursues peace and development. The US definitely has no intention to live in the shadow of nuclear deterrence either. A Cold War is impossible between China and the US. American politicians' anxieties only reflect the strong impact of the previous Cold War the US witnessed with the Soviet Union in the 20th century. 

Accusing China of waging a Cold War, the US is viewing China as its enemy. Henry Kissinger once warned that if "war with China" was seen as inevitable, all disputes between China and the US would be seen as harbingers of war, and in the long run China would indeed become a real enemy of the US, and American policymakers must do whatever they can to avoid this happening.