THE US State Department has a plan. Entitled “Elements of the China Challenge”, it highlights the current administration’s addiction to demonizing China. Unfortunately, unlike the 12-step program of Alcoholic Anonymous, the report, which is nothing but a hodgepodge of the baseless “evil empire” charges the department has directed at China over recent years, does not chart a step-by-step process of sobriety for the country but rather a 10-step program for intoxicating the country with fears of a sinister Chinese conspiracy aimed at enslaving the world. Released with his term in office perceivably reaching its end, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has spent most of his tenure fruitlessly bad-mouthing China, seems intent on persuading his successor to pick up where he is leaving off. Presumably intended as a transition document for the next administration, the report is not aimed at securing peace and development, but is instead a collection of bad ideas reeking of stale Cold War notions. If adopted, it will only aggravate Washington’s miscalculation that transformed a partner of 40 years into a strategic rival overnight. With the rise of China, Sino-US relations have indeed come to a phase of recalibration. But the incumbent US administration’s dealings with China over the past four years have mismatched the means with the purpose.
The US does not have the capacity to sever China from the rest of the world. Yet the scale and intensity of the China containment tactics Washington has been implementing over the past four years have indicated that is what it hopes to do. Were it not for the strategic composure and foresight Beijing has exercised, the escalation of tensions in many fields, particularly as a result of Washington turning its eyes to Hong Kong and Taiwan as a means to put pressure on Beijing, could have become a blasting fuse for all-out open confrontations between the world’s two largest economies. The restraint shown by China and its constant openness and readiness for dialogue with the US should have encouraged more rational thinking among decision-makers in the US. China’s calmness in pursuing its own development while promoting common development with the world, when juxtaposed against the mania of the US, offers other countries the chance to arrive at their own conclusions. A straight foot is not afraid of a crooked shoe, as the saying goes. If there is any legacy from Pompeo’s time in office, it should be that the sometimes annoying alarm clock has awakened China to the urgency of always grabbing the lifeline concerning its national security while embracing economic globalization.
– China Daily
