America’s sick
obsession with China will ruin itself and the world
The
US fixation on a China threat distracts it from its serious domestic
challenges and holds the world back from addressing critical challenges,
from climate change and wars to AI risks
Peter T. C. Chang
Published: 9:30am, 14 Apr 2024
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| Police officers trying to push back a pro-Trump mob attempting to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. America is deeply polarised, and the coming presidential election is unlikely to mend its fractured social fabric. Photo: Getty Images |
The US is gripped by a debilitating fear of China, and unless this Sinophobia is addressed, it could lead to profound uncertainties for the world.
Earlier this month, during their first phone conversation since the San Francisco summit
last November, US President Joe Biden discussed with Chinese President Xi
Jinping their collaboration on pressing issues such as narcotics control,
climate change and artificial intelligence (AI), even as he defended the
imposition of hi-tech sanctions on China.
Last month, the House of
Representatives voted through a bill that could force a TikTok
ban in the US, a move that saw bipartisan support and reflects the widespread
apprehension towards China. President Biden has pledged to sign the bill into law once it is
approved by the Senate.
Clearly, despite the San Francisco summit, US-China ties have yet to
thaw. Marked by profound mistrust, the relationship continues to be defined by
competition, rather than cooperation.
Meanwhile, the crises in Ukraine and
Gaza persist with no foreseeable resolution. Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky has reached out to President Xi about a proposed peace summit, while leaders in the Arab world are
open to Beijing’s help to broker a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. China has declared its commitment to leverage its influence to
facilitate a resolution to both crises.
Unfortunately, Washington still sees
China as a threat to its global dominance. During his call, Biden cautioned Xi
against escalating tensions across the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. Separately, several Republicans
have called for America’s withdrawal from the Ukraine war to reallocate
military assets towards countering purported rising threats from China.
Herein lies the paradox confronting China as it considers
taking on a mediating role. Why would Beijing mediate for peace in Europe and
the Middle East when this would free the US to pivot towards the Asia-Pacific
to oppose China?
At the San Francisco summit last year, Xi and Biden struck a deal wherein Beijing agreed to limit the export of fentanyl precursor chemicals, and Biden reciprocated by easing some of its sanctions. The transaction underscores Xi’s insistence on a fundamental principle of cooperation: the quid pro quo expectation.
Like any other party, Beijing anticipates reciprocity for
its help. Therefore, if the US seeks China’s collaboration in addressing the
Ukraine and Gaza crises, it must reciprocate by mitigating the risk of open
conflict in the Asia-Pacific.
Despite Xi’s commitment, however,
experts doubt that restrictions on precursor exports alone can effectively curb
the US opioid epidemic.
This scepticism arises from
the recognition that multiple factors fuel the American narcotic addiction,
including inadequate regulation and weak oversight leading to over-prescription,
pharmaceutical companies’ aggressive marketing strategies and socioeconomic
distress.
The opioid crisis is a symptom of an ailing America haunted
by fear. The nation, deeply divided, is wrestling with crises rooted in racial,
religious and socioeconomic disparities. Adding to these complexities is the
trepidation that adversaries like China could capitalise on these
vulnerabilities.
Indeed, mired in a bitter rivalry, the US and China find
themselves trapped in a cycle of distrust, where actions by one often reinforce
suspicions in the other. In the US, this escalating mistrust has stoked
apprehensions about China’s allegedly widening array of threats to homeland
security.
These fear range from unsubstantiated
accusations of spy balloons, shipping cranes deployed as Trojan horses, the
weaponisation of Chinese-made electric vehicles on US highways and
even conspiracy theories linking a Chinese cyberattack to the collapse of the
Baltimore Bridge.
The US is gripped by a debilitating Sinophobia, a pervasive fear that
could result in misdiagnosing problems, with potentially devastating
consequences. For instance, the singling out of TikTok over security concerns has
been widely criticised as a distraction from an industry-wide issue.
The spotlight on TikTok’s potential impact on the 2024 US presidential election is also diverting attention from more critical issues plaguing America’s increasingly fragile democracy.
The reality is that America is deeply polarised, and the election is unlikely to mend its fractured social fabric. Should Donald Trump secure victory in the November presidential election, he has vowed retribution for his enemies. If he faces defeat, the possibility of another uprising akin to the January 6 Capitol riot cannot be dismissed.
Merely focusing on external threats will not resolve the
profound issues vexing America. The origin of these problems is intrinsic to
the US and demand internal solutions, necessitating a critical process of
self-reflection and self-correction.
On the global stage, the era of US
unipolarity as the sole superpower has ended. China is playing an increasingly
influential role in reshaping the world order into a more inclusive, multipolar
one.
However, the US persists in viewing China as a challenge to the universal
principle of rights and liberty. This fixation on the China threat is
deflecting attention from the real and present dangers to world peace, notably
the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, which risk escalating into broader regional
conflicts.
The mistrust between the US and China ultimately has far-reaching consequences for humankind, undermining our collective ability to respond effectively to the pressing challenges posed by climate change and the potential risks associated with AI.
The US urgently needs to adopt a more balanced assessment of China. Neglecting to do so risks complicating efforts to resolve America’s domestic predicaments, disrupting the reconfiguration of the world order, and leaving us vulnerable to global crises that could adversely affect the fate of humanity.
Peter T.C. Chang is a research associate at the Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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