Spatiotemporal variations and types of the economic power zones of china and the united states

With the peaceful rising of China, the geopolitical relationship between China and the United States has entered the era of great game. Economic power is a key element in the Sino-US geopolitical game, but its spatial changes are rarely discussed. Based on the theory of asymmetric dependence and balance of power, this study constructed a fragility-sensitivity model of investment power and trade power, and dynamically revealed the patterns and trends of spatial changes of economic power of China and the United States. The research indicates that: 1) The economic power space of China and the United States has gradually evolved from US dominance in the world to a pattern where the eastern and western hemispheres are equally divided. 2) The area with spatially balanced power between China and the United States continues to shrink. The key areas of competition between the two countries have shifted from Asia, Africa, and Oceania to Europe and South America. 3) The changes in the space of economic power between China and the United States are diversified, which shows stable spatial viscosity and dynamic spatial oscillating coupling characteristics, forming stable areas, metastable areas, balanced areas, and bouncing areas. 4) The degree of international dependence of China and the United States on foreign investment and trade powers has significant spatial homogeneity and certain spatial heterogeneity. Both of them are dominated by double-high dependence and double-low dependence, forming various types such as investment-oriented dependence and trade-oriented dependence. 5) The Sino-US economic power balance zone shows obvious spatial difference, forming four types: peripheral isolation, energy endowment, economically developed, and strategic route. The strategic route regions are the focus of the political power game between the two countries.