Viewpoint: There is no right way to deal with China

Viewpoint: There is no right way to deal with China

Amanda Zaluckyj, AGDAILY*

Image : rawf8, Shutterstock

« It’s an existential struggle to find out what life will be like in the 21st century.^e century – and the most fundamental freedoms are at stake. »

This is how Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher describes the ” situation current with China. Mr. Gallagher chairs the new commission on strategic competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, which will focus on China and the threat it poses to the United States. But he is not the only one. The Capitol is in turmoil as lawmakers ponder how the United States should respond to China’s recent actions.

In recent months, China has upped the ante. There was the mysterious spy balloon that crossed half of the United States before being shot down off South Carolina. We learn today that the Chinese have equipped this balloon with technology allowing it to intercept communication signals. Of course, we also learned that this was not the first time the country had invaded our sovereign airspace.

There is also the precarious situation in Taiwan. Although the United States has long followed a one-China policy (meaning Taiwan has not been officially recognized as a separate Nation), the Biden administration has changed this approach. Last May, President Joe Biden answered yes to the question of whether the United States would send military aid to Taiwan in the event of an invasion by China. Recent military maneuvers – similar to those of Russia before its invasion of Ukraine – show that Beijing may be ready to put that promise to the test.

As far as Ukraine is concerned, the Chinese communist administration is also taking action there. Until recently, China has remained (somewhat) neutral in the face of Russia’s invasion, neither condemning nor supporting it. In fact, President Xi Jinping even presented a so-called peace plan, which was quickly rejected by the West (not without reason). But Putin has now invited Xi Jinping to visit him in the spring. It appears that China will supply Putin’s armies with ammunition and artillery, which would greatly increase Russia’s chances of military success in the conflict.

Again this week, federal agencies, including the FBI, revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic was likely triggered by a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China (although, admittedly, there is no consensus and evidence for a natural origin or leakage from a laboratory are rare). Why is this important? Because it might mean the Chinese government lab has released a virus into the world that has killed more than a million Americans.

In summary, China has everything of an adversary.

In this sense, farmers were way ahead of the trend. Although it puzzled observers at the time, most farmers applauded the Trump administration’s tariffs on China. For what ? Because China is a notorious bad actor when it comes to trade. She plays with commodity prices (ask Syngenta), cancels contracts and manipulates markets in its favor…and usually at the expense of American farmers. Its recent actions are therefore not a surprise for American agriculture.

The problem is that we need China.

For all its flaws, China is the biggest buyer of US agricultural exports. She buys more of our products than anyone else in the world. This is not necessarily surprising, as China is also the most populous country in the world.

And yet, the problem arises once more: the Chinese population is in danger of collapsing. Decades of a one-child policy have finally begun to bear fruit, with the number of citizens falling for the first time since the 1960s (although Chinese families are now allowed to have up to three children). According to some estimates, China’s population might drop from 1.3 to 1.4 billion today to 1 billion in 2050, and only 494 million in 2100. The result would be catastrophic for American agriculture.

Whether it is a threat to national security, to our economic prosperity, or to international relations, what the Chinese government does has an impact on us. It seems that there is no good solution either. A China weakened by population decline is good for national security, but not for economic security. A growing and expanding China is good for our economy, but dangerous on the international stage.

In short, this China business is complicated.

______________

* Amanda Zaluckyj blogs under the name The Farmer’s Daughter USA. Its goal is to promote farmers and combat the misinformation that swirls around the US agrifood industry.

Source : Perspective: There’s no good solution to dealing with China | AGDAILY