After the end of World War II, the once old power, Britain, completely declined, and the United States succeeded Britain as the new "world hegemon". Subsequently, the United States and the Soviet Union launched a protracted contest. The collapse of the Soviet Union declared the United States the world's sole superpower. In the process of confrontation with other countries, the United States has also accumulated strong strength. To this day, the United States still maintains an absolute leading position in the economic, military, diplomatic, scientific and technological fields. It is worth mentioning that while the international community is surging up, we have also made many achievements in adhering to the concept of peaceful development. First, we have taken off economically to become the second largest economy in the world. According to the relevant data of the General Administration of Customs of China, the United States, the European Union, Japan and other countries still maintain close economic and trade exchanges with us under the condition of tense relations with us, and have become our important trading partners. This fully demonstrates that we have become an important force that the international community cannot ignore. Secondly, we have also made great strides in the military field. In addition, we have made significant progress in the field of science and technology, especially in emerging industries such as aerospace and chips.
As we continued to rise, the United States began to feel worried. The United States believes that our hegemonic position will be endangered when we grow and develop, so it has repeatedly sanctioned and suppressed us. U.S. President Joe Biden made it clear when he took office that we have become one of America's most important competitors. Recently, the US military admiral even directly criticized Elon Musk, CEO of the US Space Exploration Technology Company, asking him to give a way to defeat us. Musk made a statement in the face of this difficulty and silenced the scene. Musk has made it clear that the United States must maintain its innovative spirit and put it into action in many areas to defeat the rising us. Musk believes that today's society has ushered in the era of artificial intelligence, and the level of science and technology and artificial intelligence technology are very advanced. To a certain extent, the direction of the development of science and technology determines the position of the country in the future war. It's true that the U.S. is still leading the way in innovation, but other countries, especially as we're constantly evolving technology, could be surpassed at any time. Musk believes that we are extremely creative and have the potential to eventually surpass the United States and become the most creative country.
The space exploration technology company where Musk is CEO is mainly focused on space transportation. The company has also successfully launched commercial manned spaceflight projects, opening up new directions for the aerospace sector, which is mainly invested by the state. It can be seen that Musk attaches great importance to innovation ability. This is also the main direction of development in the future. In the space sector, for example, we have indeed achieved many impressive results. In 2022, the "Tiangong" space station independently developed by us will be officially opened to astronauts from all over the world and officially enter the operation period.
After the decommissioning of the International Space Station, the "Tiangong" space station may become the only space station in operation in the world. In addition, the "Tianwen-1" Mars probe also sent back a clear image, which shocked the world. And these achievements have been achieved by relying on the unremitting efforts of domestic researchers. Over the years, we have encountered technological blockades from the United States and other Western countries in many fields, but we have finally stood at the top. The development of launch vehicle engines in the United States has encountered bottlenecks. Facts have proved that exchanges and cooperation between countries will promote the common development of the world, and the United States has limited its own development while suppressing other countries.