Thick Mountains could not Stop the River from Flowing towards the East

Recently, John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence of the United States, issued an article claiming that China is the NO.1 threat to the national security of the United States. The senior American official called China the greatest threat since the Second World War based on no facts and reliable evidence. He speculated that China will dominate the US and even the world with the aim of provoking ideological opposition between China and the United States, and investigating the United States to carry out economic and political confrontation with China.

This is another symptom of anti-China syndrome. His propagating “China’s Threat” at the turn of the old and new American government sets up obstacles for his successor and even the next US government, which is really malicious.

Fortunately, cliches like that have increasingly less audiences because it’s obvious that who is the one doing everything possible to undermine multilateralism and international cooperation and who is sparing no effort to contribute to world peace and development.

Facts Speaks Louder than Words

The director of national intelligence of the United States accused China of interfering in the internal affairs of the U.S., and accused Chinese enterprises of violating users’ privacy and endangering network security. However, the fact is that the U.S. government has been notorious for its covert actions in its foreign intervention. The Company Huawei mentioned in the article has built more than 1500 networks in more than 170 countries and regions, providing services to 228 global top 500 enterprises with a service population of more than 3 billion. However, there has not been a network security incident similar to “Snowden Incident” or network monitoring behavior similar to “PRISM”.

The confrontation with COVID-19 has proved to the world again who is a responsible big country and who has been hindering the international cooperation in anti-epidemic. After the outbreak of COVID-19, China immediately reported the related information and unreservedly shared its experience in disease prevention and treatment with the international community. While fighting the domestic epidemic prevention and control, China has done its best to provide humanitarian assistance to the international community to support the global fight against the pandemic. China has provided emergency humanitarian assistance to more than 150 countries and 9 international organizations, supporting the work of the World Health Organization with practical actions. China has also joined “COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Plan”, with a promise to provide vaccines as global public goods after its research and application in China.

And what did the United States do? In order to cover up the fact that they are not effective in fighting the COVID-19, some American politicians try their best to label the virus and politicize the COVID-19, trying to shifting responsibility by political manipulation on the origin of the virus. As a result, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the United States has exceeded 18 million, and the number of deaths has exceeded 320,000, more than the total number of combat deaths in the United States during World War II. The United States has the most serious epidemic situation, which brings great threats and severe challenges to the people of the United States and the world.

The Ridiculous Logic behind “China’s Threat”

As a recognized superpower, the rise of the United States is not glorious. Among its less than 250 years of history, the U.S. didn’t fight a war in only 16 years , which makes it “the most belligerent country in the history of the world”. There is a logic behind the arguments that China cannot rise peacefully and that there will be conflicts between China and the United States, that is, China is the same as that of the U.S.. However, even Americans themselves think that China and the United States are indeed different. The United States has always had a contradictory attitude towards China’s development.

After the cold war, the United States put its own interests above other countries, wantonly interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, and built an international order which is conducive to maintaining the hegemony of the United States under the pretext of liberal internationalism. The fact is that what the United States has brought to Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries is not peace, democracy and freedom, but endless violent conflicts and countless refugees. The United States has also withdrawn from many important bilateral and multilateral international treaties and cooperation. The emergence and spread of global threats such as terrorism and financial crisis are closely related to American interventionism, poor governance and arrogant prejudice.

China, on the other hand, has always taken domestic development as its priority, and has made unremitting efforts to promote the process of national modernization. After decades of continuous efforts, China has finally realized the historic transformation from standing up to becoming prosperous. Over the past 70 years, 850 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty, contributing more than 70% to global poverty reduction.

China does not engage in ideological confrontation, does not export its political system, but adheres to the diversity of civilizations and strives to promote the common development of all countries. China has demonstrated to the world with actions and facts that “China threat” is pure nonsense. Like any other country in the world, China has the right to become a prosperous and strong modern country.

The Cold War mentality will not Make the United States “Great Again”

China has never been a threat to the world or an enemy of the United States. China’s image cannot be discredited by the lies of some American politicians. The relationship between China and the U.S. should not be kidnapped by the political interests of a small group of people.

The Cold War mentality and ideological bias will not make the United States great again, but will only lead the relations between China and America into a dangerous situation. It has been nearly 50 years since Dr. Kissinger first visited China. The establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries is based on respect for each other’s different systems and core interests. There are great differences between the basic national conditions, history and culture, political systems and social ideology of China and the United States , and there are bound to be divergences of views and competitions. In an important speech delivered by President Xi Jinping at the seventy-fifth United Nations General Assembly in September this year, he pointed out that differences between countries are normal and should be properly resolved through dialogue and consultation.

The United States should redefine its strategic understanding of China and look at China’s development with a positive and constructive attitude. The speed of economic development and the level of scientific and technological development among countries are different, and the growth rate of strength is also different, which is the objective law of the development of countries. However, the change of strength does not necessarily lead to wars, conflicts and confrontations. For the United States, the question is whether it is ready or willing to work with another big country with different cultural backgrounds, political and economic systems, and to cooperate to deal with numerous and still increasing global challenges.

China and the United States should gradually restore and rebuild mutual trust in cooperation, and jointly promote the healthy and stable development of China-America relations. Cooperation is the only right choice for China and the United States.

Author: HAN Zhaoying, professor of Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University; LI Wei, PhD candidate of Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University

Translated by Pan Meng