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HONG KONG: Americans disagree on almost nothing today. Yet they are largely united in their belief that China represents an existential challenge to their country and the international order it has long led.
This combination of internal division and external demonization has made the Sino-American rivalry increasingly inescapable and potentially catastrophic.
America’s internal divisions have been fueled in recent years by social media, which, by populating user feeds with personalized content, creates “echo chambers” that reinforce, rather than challenge, their beliefs and values. .
When alternative ideas hit the echo chamber, they are often distorted or smeared. And when someone within the chamber questions shared beliefs, they run the risk of being instantly ostracized or, in contemporary parlance, “canceled.”
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The president of the United States, Trump, and the president of China, Xi Jinping. (Photo: AFP / Jim WATSON, PETER KLAUNZER)
This ultra-reactive demonization of divergent points of view not only flattens the discourse; it also reduces the space between disagreement and conflict, even violent conflict.
Widespread frustration that leaders fail to provide justice, security, and opportunity further increases risks.
The same trends can be seen in the US approach to China. For example, the newly released US State Department report, The Elements of China’s Defiance, vilifies the Communist Party of China and describes it as “unrestricted out of respect for individual freedom and human rights.”
The report also fuels fear of China’s supposed “authoritarian goals” and “hegemonic ambitions,” which imply a desire to infuse the US-led global order with its own social and political model.
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And it recommends that the United States build a united front against China, in order to secure, by military force, if necessary, “freedom” for the world.
CHINA’S HARDEST VIEW FROM THE US
None of this has gone unnoticed in China, which has been conducting its own increasingly unfavorable assessment of the United States.
It now seems clear to China’s leaders, citizens, and businesses that, far from being a land of freedom and opportunity, the United States is a deeply fragmented society, ruined by systemic racism, growing inequality, and a lack of common purpose, evils. that have been going on for a long time. obscured by fantasies about the “American dream.”
Furthermore, far from being an example of democracy, the United States has a highly distorted political system.
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Its institutions, including the Electoral College, Senate, and Supreme Court, and practices such as gerrymandering, strategic polling place downsizing, and burdensome voter verification rules, mean that the majority does not always rule.
Wealthy donors buy influence, whether it’s funding campaigns or buying the media.
As China has shed long-held illusions about the United States, its hopes for a constructive bilateral relationship have waned.
A healthcare employee works a walk-in COVID-19 test site, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020, in Miami. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the US has doubled in the last month and has set new records every day this week. (AP Photo / Lynne Sladky)
To be sure, President-elect Joe Biden is unlikely to sustain the rollercoaster of surprise attacks, reversals, disruptions, and near misses that President Donald Trump engineered.
But less chaotic does not necessarily mean less conflictual: Biden has called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “bully” and vowed to lead a coordinated campaign to “pressure, isolate and punish China.”
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So China is preparing for the worst. This may mean a continuation of Trump’s trade war or the most meaningless finger pointing at the spread of COVID-19. It can even mean military tensions involving Taiwan, the South China Sea, and China’s western borders.
CHINA CANNOT BE VACED ON PRESENTATION
But this does not mean that China is leaning toward American-style isolationism and demonization. On the contrary, despite the clumsy “wolf warrior” tactics of some diplomats, China has taken important steps to promote international cooperation in key areas of shared interest.
For example, on climate change, Xi pledged at the United Nations to reach maximum carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and to aim for carbon neutrality by 2060.
Regarding trade, China has signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Association (RCEP), whose 15 member countries represent 30% of humanity.
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To the world’s surprise, it has also indicated that it could join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which emerged after Trump withdrew the US from the original Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Leaders pose for a group photo during the 3rd Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit in Bangkok on November 4, 2019, on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit. (Photo: AFP / Manan VATSYAYANA)
The United States, which is struggling to control the pandemic and appears to be heading for a double dip recession, would do well to take a similar approach.
Trading is the only way you can escape your current financial situation.
That includes trade with China, the first major economy to recover from the impact of the pandemic and the only one to see positive GDP growth in 2020.
But this will be impossible as long as misunderstandings, antagonism and mutual suspicion dominate the bilateral relationship.
As former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said, America has two key powers: the power of inspiration and the power of intimidation.
When dealing with China, an economic powerhouse with a population of 1.4 billion, intimidation will not work. China will not be intimidated by its internal affairs, such as Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan.
Yet there is still time for the United States to use the power of inspiration to show that China and China can be equal partners in peace, working together to meet shared challenges.
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RETHINK THE COMMITMENT
There is a moral dimension to this imperative.
Many outsiders, including the Chinese, cannot understand how the world’s most technologically advanced country could have allowed more than 260,000 people to die from a virus that much poorer countries have fought much more successfully with simple measures.
For cooperation to work, the US must demonstrate its ability to think in terms of “we” rather than “me.”
As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains, “The world is divided into people like us and people who are not like us, and what is lost is the notion of the common good.”
China’s enduring commitment to multilateralism indicates that it recognizes it.
US President Donald Trump will follow Chinese President Xi Jinping in delivering a speech at the APEC virtual summit. (Photo: AFP / Nazri RAPAAI)
It is time for the United States to do the same and engage in direct and honest dialogue on issues that require constructive engagement.
Biden’s presidency amounts to a golden opportunity to start this crucial conversation. But time is of the essence.
If Biden begins his term by choosing division over dialogue, changing course will soon be difficult, if not impossible.
Andrew Sheng is a Distinguished Fellow of the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong and a member of the UNEP Advisory Council on Sustainable Finance. Xiao Geng, President of the Hong Kong Institution for International Finance, is a professor and director of the Maritime Silk Road Research Institute at the HSBC School of Business, Peking University.
