With a cold war brewing between the US and China, Americans should brush up on their Chinese history because China fought a similar war in the past and won. If the United States follows its current path, history might repeat itself. Seventy years ago, Mao Zedong faced off against Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist government. The communists were no match for the Nationalists in any head-on confrontation. Luckily for Mao, the Japanese came and created the distraction Mao needed to carry out his plan. With the Nationalists busy with the Japanese, Mao purposely avoided confronting the Japanese. He used this time to infiltrate rural areas of China, gaining support among the peasantry. Mao also planted spies and agents loyal to his cause at all levels of the Nationalist government. When the Japanese finally surrendered, the Nationalists found themselves in a dire situation. They did control the major cities like Shanghai and Beijing, but a majority of the countryside was under Communist influence, which disrupted the logistics between these major urban centres. The Nationalist government was so full of communist agents, even the daughter of Fu Zuoyi, the general defending Beijing, was a spy. She and others around him were able to convince him to hand over Beijing to the communists without a fight. In the end, Mao came out on top and won the civil war. Fast-forward to the present and China faces a new adversary, the US. Like in the past, any direct confrontation would mean certain doom. Following in Mao’s footsteps in many ways, Xi now appears to be following the same strategy as employed by Mao 70 years ago. With the Trump administration shunning all global responsibility, Xi has his opportunity to build China’s influence in these global organisations. From the Paris accord to the World Health Organization, China has stepped up to become the voice of reason within these organisations. The Belt and Road Initiative projects have expanded China’s influence in Africa, South America and the Pacific. There are also reports of alleged Chinese agents in Taiwan, Australia and even the New York Police Department . The US is still a powerful nation and the Chinese still have a lot of work to do to win this war. However the Trump administration is heading down a dangerous path. Without a re-examination of the US’ current global strategy, history might repeat itself in China’s favour again. A. Kwok, Toronto, Canada