Quote:
Originally Posted by aquarius7000
Taking your last sentence first - the US and China trade with one another - so would your last sentence hold good for both of them as well?
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The idea behind that theory is that as long they need each other through commerce, war can only cause mutual destruction.
China is dependant on the U.S. for oil, gas, copper, vehicles, gold, etc. imports. Without them, they can't naturally produce such products.
If the chinese were to go to war with the U.S., that trade would stop, which would only hurt themselves. It goes the same way for the americans. Such possibility will, in theory, prevent the chinese from starting a war with the U.S.
The thing about the U.S. is that, although they get a benefit from trading with the chinese, they could replace China with other cheap manufacturers (such as India), or produce it themselves.
The "golden arches" theory proposed by Milton Friedman's is the idea that two countries with "McDonalds" franchises (meaning both countries accept international commerce) are unwilling or unlikely to go to war.