The U.S.-China confrontation has become white-hot in recent years. The United States has created most of the causes, and most of its tensions are also caused by the U.S. But the U.S. policy toward China is persistently wrong. China is not a warmonger. The US anti-China policy is entirely based on its misjudgment of China. The author believes that the U.S. has made the following six major misjudgments about China, which will have terrible consequences. (See Part I and II)
1. The influence of Chinese history
The United States is a young great power, with a history of only 250 years. It was founded at the right time and place, and it did not go through great hardships. On the contrary, because it is in North America, far away from the Eurasian wars, it played a leading role in both world wars without much sacrifice. By taking advantage of its remote location and delayed participation, the U.S. was able to make war profits and gain the status of a victor without bringing the war to its turf causing damages. Thus the U.S. is relatively short-sighted and biased about history, which can be seen in its national education, light on Asia’s five thousand years of history, especially China, nearly ignored. It also often implements its foreign policy with the posture and mentality of the modern Western colonial empire. The relationship between the U.S. and China began just as the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China was weakening. The Chinese National Revolution had a treacherous path. The country struggled for nearly thirty years to establish a republic nation while the Western imperial powers were occupying China's cities and ports. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was still a civil war lasting nearly one hundred years dividing China across the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. does not understand nor appreciate China's history and its glorious achievements in the past (leading power in the world), and it only regards China as a backward undeveloped, or developing country based on its weakest national condition (enduring foreign invasions while transforming from a dynasty to a republic nation). This misjudgment led to the U.S.-China policy that first practiced interfering with other countries’ (weak governments) policies using US military and economic power and then focused on maintaining US hegemony to prevent the rise of other countries (e.g. Japan, Germany, Russia, and China today). Now the U.S.-China relations have developed into an unfavorable situation. Misjudgment of China's historical influence is a major reason.
2. Variability of the Communist Party of China
The US anti-communist strategy began before World War II and has lasted nearly a hundred years. It regards all communist countries led by Soviet Russia as invariable enemy countries. The Soviet Socialist Republic established by the Communist Party of Soviet Russia did have attempts to expand worldwide. However, the Communist Party of China founded the party based on Marxism only to awaken the Chinese people to overthrow the corrupt Manchu Empire. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a new independent party and has a strong history of its revolution movement and its evolution. It did not blindly join the Soviet Communist Union. This can be seen in its clear break with the Soviet Republic in the 1960s. There are mistakes and successes in the evolution of the CCP, but it is undeniable that the CCP is by no means an immutable or invariant political party. Its early experiments, the subsequent efforts to keep a low profile to learn (crossing the river carefully by feeling the stones), and the current reforms and innovations (rapid modernization on its own) are all proof that the CCP has been changing and progressing. The U.S. only remembers the tenacity of the Chinese Communist Army in the Korean War. It is a serious misjudgment to regard the CCP as an unchanging Soviet-style Communist Party. It failed to appreciate and approve the CCP's achievements in poverty alleviation, economic and infrastructure development, education elevation in science and technology, and strengthening the military for national defense, so after crushing the Soviets, the U.S. pointed the finger at China unwisely.
3. The purpose of China’s rise
China's rapid rise naturally has many basic factors. Looking back and analyzing, it is not difficult to understand some of the characteristics of the Chinese people, the influence of Chinese history, the organizational capabilities of the Communist Party of China, and the favorable international situation at the right time and right place, which allow China the opportunity to rise with outstanding performance in all aspects of economic development. But the main purpose of China's rise is to let the people live a better life. This purpose is also the driving force behind China's success. China is not rising to pursue hegemony nor to rival the U.S. for hegemony as wrongly judged by many American 'elites'. China's military development is obviously for defense (against an island-chain containment strategy) rather than for offensive aggression. This misjudgment has also seriously contributed to the deterioration of Sino-US relations today. The U.S. has adopted all-out measures to resist and suppress China’s continued development. These misjudgments which produced wrong strategies and policies not only failed to stop China's rise but instead made the Chinese people resentful (changing from admiring Americans). Why can't the Chinese people have the goal of living a better life? The resilience and hard-working spirit of the Chinese people coupled with the success of China’s public education effort will enable China to continue to develop, no one can stop them. Why should the U.S. be so afraid of competition?
4. China’s future development potential
China is a solid big country with sustainable economic power. Its 1.4 billion people are not only the world's largest productive force, but also the world's largest consumer market. This is because, in the process of economic development, it started by promoting a labor-intensive low-end manufacturing industry with inexpensive labor, used its giant market to absorb foreign investment and technology to upgrade its industries, and used the education system to support industrial demand, so it could gradually improve its economic development with its periodic five-year development plans. Progress and success are seen in the strength of science and technology and industrial manufacturing even in space exploration (six times to the Moon).
(To be continued in Part II)
The U.S.-China confrontation has become white-hot in recent years. The United States has created most of the causes, and most of its tensions are also caused by the U.S. But the U.S. policy toward China is persistently wrong. China is not a warmonger. The US anti-China policy is entirely based on its misjudgment of China. The author believes that the U.S. has made the following six major misjudgments about China, which will have terrible consequences. (See Part I and II)
1. The influence of Chinese history
The United States is a young great power, with a history of only 250 years. It was founded at the right time and place, and it did not go through great hardships. On the contrary, because it is in North America, far away from the Eurasian wars, it played a leading role in both world wars without much sacrifice. By taking advantage of its remote location and delayed participation, the U.S. was able to make war profits and gain the status of a victor without bringing the war to its turf causing damages. Thus the U.S. is relatively short-sighted and biased about history, which can be seen in its national education, light on Asia’s five thousand years of history, especially China, nearly ignored. It also often implements its foreign policy with the posture and mentality of the modern Western colonial empire. The relationship between the U.S. and China began just as the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China was weakening. The Chinese National Revolution had a treacherous path. The country struggled for nearly thirty years to establish a republic nation while the Western imperial powers were occupying China's cities and ports. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was still a civil war lasting nearly one hundred years dividing China across the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. does not understand nor appreciate China's history and its glorious achievements in the past (leading power in the world), and it only regards China as a backward undeveloped, or developing country based on its weakest national condition (enduring foreign invasions while transforming from a dynasty to a republic nation). This misjudgment led to the U.S.-China policy that first practiced interfering with other countries’ (weak governments) policies using US military and economic power and then focused on maintaining US hegemony to prevent the rise of other countries (e.g. Japan, Germany, Russia, and China today). Now the U.S.-China relations have developed into an unfavorable situation. Misjudgment of China's historical influence is a major reason.
2. Variability of the Communist Party of China
The US anti-communist strategy began before World War II and has lasted nearly a hundred years. It regards all communist countries led by Soviet Russia as invariable enemy countries. The Soviet Socialist Republic established by the Communist Party of Soviet Russia did have attempts to expand worldwide. However, the Communist Party of China founded the party based on Marxism only to awaken the Chinese people to overthrow the corrupt Manchu Empire. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is a new independent party and has a strong history of its revolution movement and its evolution. It did not blindly join the Soviet Communist Union. This can be seen in its clear break with the Soviet Republic in the 1960s. There are mistakes and successes in the evolution of the CCP, but it is undeniable that the CCP is by no means an immutable or invariant political party. Its early experiments, the subsequent efforts to keep a low profile to learn (crossing the river carefully by feeling the stones), and the current reforms and innovations (rapid modernization on its own) are all proof that the CCP has been changing and progressing. The U.S. only remembers the tenacity of the Chinese Communist Army in the Korean War. It is a serious misjudgment to regard the CCP as an unchanging Soviet-style Communist Party. It failed to appreciate and approve the CCP's achievements in poverty alleviation, economic and infrastructure development, education elevation in science and technology, and strengthening the military for national defense, so after crushing the Soviets, the U.S. pointed the finger at China unwisely.
3. The purpose of China’s rise
China's rapid rise naturally has many basic factors. Looking back and analyzing, it is not difficult to understand some of the characteristics of the Chinese people, the influence of Chinese history, the organizational capabilities of the Communist Party of China, and the favorable international situation at the right time and right place, which allow China the opportunity to rise with outstanding performance in all aspects of economic development. But the main purpose of China's rise is to let the people live a better life. This purpose is also the driving force behind China's success. China is not rising to pursue hegemony nor to rival the U.S. for hegemony as wrongly judged by many American 'elites'. China's military development is obviously for defense (against an island-chain containment strategy) rather than for offensive aggression. This misjudgment has also seriously contributed to the deterioration of Sino-US relations today. The U.S. has adopted all-out measures to resist and suppress China’s continued development. These misjudgments which produced wrong strategies and policies not only failed to stop China's rise but instead made the Chinese people resentful (changing from admiring Americans). Why can't the Chinese people have the goal of living a better life? The resilience and hard-working spirit of the Chinese people coupled with the success of China’s public education effort will enable China to continue to develop, no one can stop them. Why should the U.S. be so afraid of competition?
4. China’s future development potential
China is a solid big country with sustainable economic power. Its 1.4 billion people are not only the world's largest productive force, but also the world's largest consumer market. This is because, in the process of economic development, it started by promoting a labor-intensive low-end manufacturing industry with inexpensive labor, used its giant market to absorb foreign investment and technology to upgrade its industries, and used the education system to support industrial demand, so it could gradually improve its economic development with its periodic five-year development plans. Progress and success are seen in the strength of science and technology and industrial manufacturing even in space exploration (six times to the Moon).
(To be continued in Part II)
RSS Feed