We have heard of a proverbial bull in a China shop, but it seems China is in a bull shop.

Predictably China is not releasing much news, but the weight of things that are bearing down on them right now is staggering.

They faced a series of droughts in the summer months and the onset of Covid-19, followed by the most stringent lock-down cycle the world has ever seen.

That came after a year of trade wars between the US and China, which yielded no wins for either nation, but hurt US consumers, industries and farms. It also did a lot of harm to China, resulting in a notable dip in GDP growth and trade flows.

But then the virus burned out, fortunately for them. Wuhan was back on the map, life seemed to be normalising and China held first-mover advantage in the global game. They may have suffered setbacks in 2019, but it looked like they would recover in 2020.

Not so. For one, their dependence on trade as a Mercantile economy, exposed them to the steep fall in the global economy, which cut its exports right back. That’s where it makes its big money, because cheap labor means low input costs on products marketed at global prices.

But then trouble stirred in Hong Kong, as China tried to impose its centrist policies on the city. That drew global ire and a threat to absorb the financial wizards of that great city into other nations. The great cash cow on the eastern seaboard started to sound more like it was in labor.

And just as that was happening, India started rattling its sabres at China, over the Kashmir dispute. China quickly realised that she had met her match. India is no walkover. They have a similarly massive population and comparable military power, ranked 3rd and 4th in the global firepower index.

But just as that started to simmer, the mother of all flood seasons descended on southern China. Rivers swelled, cities and towns were inundated, dams were overwhelmed, whole buildings were washed away, people died, and millions were displaced.

And to crown all of that, a few earth quakes rumbled in the water-logged cities that groaned under the already overwhelming burden of trying to survive the flood waters.

For now, the main flood control dam on the Yangzte, the Three Gorges, which is also the biggest dam and hydro power station on earth, with 600 metre walls, is holding its own. But experts have been reporting on bad workmanship that might yet end in catastrophe.

And aside from that, well there is more, but isn’t that enough?

The idea that global power is shifting east may still be valid, given the failures of the current US administration, but the Bible indicates that power will shift to the center, as in Europe, so China’s setbacks may well have sealed that.

All I know is that the world is in a staggering state of flux and change, with nations like China and Russia eager to exploit the broken play to shift the global geopolitical balance.

The US is paving the way for European consolidation. 

Macron has already mooted a pan-European army, but with US forces being withdrawn from Germany and Trump having cancelled Reagan’s Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the threat to Europe has added more urgency to that.

I feel sure enough to say, Europe will be the region to watch now. And if I am right, once again the US will stay out of it and Britain will be isolated – or will Brexit yet backfire and drag her into Europe as prophesy suggests? 

I don’t know. the operative word is “suggests”, but it may not be so.