[China & SEA][China & US]US strategic suppression will only strengthen China's development
Zhu Feng, Director, Institute of International Relations, Nanjing University.
The original article is posted here.(https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fyKJ8jkKusDwGDPjnpbb_Q)
The Biden administration has been in power for less than a year and a half now, and its policy towards China is gradually taking shape. From Biden's trip to Korea and Japan in late May to Secretary of State Blinken's policy speech on May 26, the world has seen and recognized what kind of policy the Biden administration will implement towards China. As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said recently, the United States' "view of the world, of China and of China-US relations" is seriously off. How to deal with a United States that is desperately trying to uphold unipolar hegemony and is resorting to bullying, unilateralism and populism against China is undoubtedly the biggest external strategic test that China is facing in its development and national rejuvenation process.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of President Nixon's visit to China, the historic handshake between the United States and China across the Pacific Ocean in February 1972. In December 1978, the Carter Administration and China signed the Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, which enshrined the fundamental principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit for the peace and development of both peoples and the world. In the 50 years since Nixon's visit to China, the cooperative process of US-China relations has not only benefited both peoples and contributed to the continued growth of the world economy, but has also been the most important strategic guarantee of the continuation of the theme of global peace and development in the 21st century.
In the 40 years between 1978 and 2017, China and the United States have been open to each other, engaging in comprehensive exchanges and deep contacts. The United States was one of the most important and positive international factors that helped China to deepen its integration into the world, while China provided a constant supply of high-quality, low-cost manufactured goods and household items to the United States, which experienced massive industrial outsourcing and offshoring after the implementation of "Reaganomics" in the late 1980s, enabling American society and its people to achieve This has enabled American society and its people to achieve a stable quality of life and a low inflation rate over time. China has become the largest source of U.S. goods imports, the largest source of international students, and the largest overseas holder of U.S. Treasury debt for many years. The desire for knowledge and innovative education has led Chinese students to study in the U.S. In the 30 years between 1986 and 2016, 4.7 million Chinese science and technology students (STEM majors) came to the U.S. Some of them have also contributed to the growth of the U.S. economy. Some of them have also played an important role in high-tech innovation in the US.
The 50 years of US-China relations from war to mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit have been the most positive and historic strategic factor in changing world politics. 1991 saw the collapse of the Soviet Union and the world economy entered an era of globalisation. The GDP of the United States doubled from 1991 to 2020. China's historic process of reform and opening up and integration into the world is not only due to the new historical heights of globalisation, but also to the national spirit of diligence, learning and hard work of the Chinese people, which has made the "Chinese Way" and "Chinese Solution" the most important factor in the growth of the efficiency of globalisation and the transformation of the world's economic regions. The Chinese Way and the Chinese Solution have become the most historically influential driving force behind the growth of global efficiency and the transformation of the world economy into a regional one. The United States has also benefited in many ways. Even with the Trump administration's trade war against China in 2018, bilateral trade between the US and China reached a record $710 billion in 2021. The Biden administration recently had to say that in order to reduce the current high inflation in the US, it needs to consider removing the tariffs imposed on Chinese imports.
However, China's development has plunged the United States into an unbelievable "China anxiety". Today, the US government and political elites are trying to comprehensively erase and deny the basic facts of the mutually beneficial and win-win relationship between the two countries in the 50 years since Nixon's visit to China, and are systematically smearing and discrediting China with a Cold War mindset. From issues related to Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, to attempts to hollow out the "One China principle";From labeling China as a "non-market economy" to alarmingly framing China's actions against the "three forces" in Xinjiang as "genocide"; from including China in the "authoritarian camp" to characterizing China as the "greatest challenger" to the world order; from ideological line drawing on China's policy to organising and piecing together a geopolitical and economic "anti-China alliance"; from falsely accusing China of being a "hacker empire" to trying to push forward a technological war against China; from constantly expanding the "entity list" for Chinese enterprises to eliminating on a large scale scholars in the United States who maintain normal scientific, technological and educational exchanges with China. The Biden administration's "China crackdown" has put relations between the two countries at serious strategic risk once again.
In the past 50 years, the US-China relationship has not only turned enemies into friends, but has also become a powerful and historic engine of sustainable and peaceful development in the world. Behind the major negative shift in strategy towards China that the US political elite is now making in defiance of the facts is a typical "American" way of thinking about world politics, the result of the "neoliberal" concept and operating mechanism of unipolar hegemony, which has started to go downhill significantly. This is the result of the unipolar hegemonic "neo-liberal" philosophy and operational mechanism that has clearly gone downhill, and is a realistic need to create external enemies as a result of the serious "involution" of US domestic politics and society. If US-China relations are not to return to the past, we must face up to and seriously address the changes that are taking place.
In fact, there is no need for China to be emotionally outraged by the historic regression in US policy towards China, nor is there any need to lament, let alone simply assume that the future of relations between the two countries will be one of conflict and hostility. The "qualitative change" in China-US relations has once again confirmed the high strategic acumen and profound strategic perspective of the "unprecedented changes in the century" theory. International relations, especially those of the great powers, have been characterised from theory to history as a never-ending competition for power, interests and wealth among nations. As the international system is moving from unipolarity to multipolarity, China's growth is sure to attract "envy and jealousy". It is important for us to face the US strategic suppression in a timely, scientific and rational manner, to take advantage of the situation in the great struggle of the new era, to fight and cooperate at the same time, to strategically continue the historic development process of the Chinese nation, and to avoid a major setback in this process due to the US suppression.
In recent decades, China has undoubtedly been one of the most successful countries in the world in terms of development. We have a greater voice in the international system of distribution of power, wealth and interests than ever before. However, China's development process is still "halfway up the mountain", and it is at this point that we need to grit our teeth and strengthen our will. The United States' "change of face" towards China is a test not only of China's strategic resolve, its vision and wisdom, but also of the new strategic planning, governance change and systemic growth that the Chinese nation needs to gather and establish in the face of difficulties. The history of Sino-US relations over the past 50 years has vividly demonstrated that as long as China stays true to its policy of reform and opening up and its focus on economic construction, future history will prove that the US crackdown on China will only strengthen China's will to strive for upward development.