U.S. Secretary of State Blinken will make a clear statement of the U.S. stance on China in a public speech tomorrow. Has the U.S. policy toward China changed fundamentally, and most importantly, how has it changed the world?
After the baptism of globalization, the United States found that at the same time that its comprehensive national strength was receding, “an authoritarian economic power that did not belong to the Western democratic system” has risen. This is China. The United States and the West expect the international order to be destroyed. In 1992, they announced the advent of globalization. In 2017, Thomas Friedman, the author of “The Earth is Flat,” wrote a book “Thank you for being late”, which previewed the “de-globalization”. , subtitled: An Optimist’s Guide to Prosperity in an Age of Acceleration. What do you mainly say? Feeling that the world’s technology is developing too fast, and what is even more disturbing is that China’s technology is developing too fast, Freeman began to think regarding globalization from another angle: following non-Western countries, especially the great Eastern countries, took advantage of globalization to make progress, the actual situation There are several serious damages to the international order and values, and to the great natural resources.
“How to face the drastic changes of the accelerated era? ──Your lateness brings me calmness”. What Freeman actually meant to say was, “When the world is changing so fast, when we’re in the midst of so many accelerating forces, you need to pause, you need to be still, you need to reflect, you need to re-imagine.” It is elegant and decent, and the message of “de-globalization” is revealed behind it, and it is also mixed with the voice of “going to China for development”.
Turning over this 600-page book, Freeman talks regarding international politics in the second half. Chapter 9 “Control & Chaos” uses a straightforward way to describe the two major strategic rivals of the United States, China and Russia, which cannot be Western democracy, freedom and human rights. One set, is the hostile authoritarian state of the United States, the two countries pose a serious threat to the international order, and he called on the United States to take action once morest it, and he introduced a tactical action called ADD. ADD is a countermeasure policy consisting of the three prefixes of Ampliy + Deter + Degrade. The U.S. defense report listed China and Russia as the top threats to the United States five years ago. It seems that Freeman no longer cares regarding whether the earth is flat, but is worried regarding whether the earth will be peaceful. China, the United States, and Russia are nuclear superpowers. If there is an unpredictable and decisive military action, there will be prosperity in the future; are you still optimistic?
The ADD in the United States is in progress. Whether it is President Biden’s recent “slip of the tongue” promising to defend Taiwan, or tomorrow’s official article by Secretary of State Blinken on China’s policy, the relationship between China and the United States has been inseparable from the “amplification + containment + weakening” relationship model.
I have to mention that in the same year that “Thank You for Being Late” was launched, former Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei, as a scholar at Renmin University, published an article on his website titled “The American Century” has entered history, and the “post-American era” has come. ” article, clearly telling everyone that there is no need to “debate endlessly regarding what kind of era we live in today.” In fact, the answer is obvious: “We have entered a “Post-American Era”, which is a It means that the so-called “Pax Americana” and the “American Century” have entered history. Not only are we witnessing the arrival of a new era, but we are also noticing that this epoch-making process is accelerating, which has led to a sea change in the world order. “It’s that simple.
Regarding the “post-American era”, our attitude is different from Freeman’s “Thank you for being late.” I would like to quote a well-known poem: “How many things are always urgent; It is said that when President Nixon met with Chairman Mao in Beijing 50 years ago, he quoted the passage “Man Jianghong and Comrade Guo Moruo”, and he commented: “Now is the time to seize the day, the people of our two countries. It’s time to climb to the heights of greatness and forge a new and better world.”
In the face of the opportunity of the century-old great changes in the “post-American era”, China and the United States should not fight once morest each other in the knockout round, nor do they need any ADD. The ideal is to regain the spirit of cooperation between the two peoples to create a better future. In this case, there are many peaceful coexistence between China and the United States. In 50 years, the world will have more useful construction.