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U.S. 'Cold War' Against China Gives Way to War of Values (Huanqiu, People's Republic of China)

 

What is America's most effective weapon in its competition with the People's Republic of China? According to this editorial from China's state-run Huanqiu, it isn't the U.S. military or its Asia pivot, but American values, which have already found a very receptive audience among the Chinese people.

 

EDITORIAL

 

Translated By John Chen

 

February 7, 2013

 

People’s Republic of China – Huanqiu – Original Article (Chinese)

Is America waging a war of values against China because it can't afford a classic, more conventional Cold War?

 

NEW MEDIA ANIMATION, TAIWAN: China creates Confucius Peace Prize to rival Nobel Peace Prize, Dec. 8, 2010, 00:01:39RealVideo

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday formally retired as U.S. secretary of state, and John Kerry took over. Nominees for the heavyweight cabinet positions have largely been determined: Chuck Hagel has been nominated as secretary of defense; John Brennan for CIA director; and so on. In the past, as far as China is concerned, the performance of these politicians can be said to have been relatively modest.

 

But will this class of "newcomers" continue to hold their moderate line toward China? It's hard to say. Thought leaders in the United States do of course have an influence on bilateral relations, but momentum is more important. Clinton used Cold-War thinking to deal with China, which deepened mutual strategic suspicion. Now it is the turn of the "moderates." They may be able to make a positive course correction, but their impact is unlikely be more positive than Hillary's was negative.

 

A number of entangled interests and inertial forces characterize Sino-U.S. relations. The bilateral relationship is filled with ups and downs, but is also largely consistent. So generally speaking, the new cabinet will not carry out policies significantly different from its predecessors.

 

Furthermore, U.S. cabinet changes now have less influence on China. for one thing, China's power is growing and it has a bigger say when it comes to bilateral relations. This makes it harder for U.S. leaders to act arbitrarily and according to their individual preferences. Instead, they must follow the law of interests.

 

During her tenure, Hillary Clinton pursued "smart power" diplomacy toward China. Yet few of the relevant geopolitical outcomes amounted to stronger alliances for the U.S., and in the face of various challenges, China has shown greater resilience. A few years ago, China's people could hardly have imagined being in simultaneous dispute with such a wide range of parties in the South and East China Seas, but now we see that this is nothing serious. China has gradually accumulated the experience it needs to manage territorial disputes.

 

China had been concerned over the past few years that the U.S. would actively seek to contain China's development. Under Hillary's diplomacy, however, it became clear that the United States had limited resources to do so. The possibility of treating China in the Cold War fashion it had treated the Soviet Union has gradually diminished.

 

So in the context of Sino-U.S. relations, America's handiest method of struggle is the "values offensive." In this respect, the United States has many avenues for penetrating China. Furthermore, the Chinese public has a very low level of resistance to these values, and in fact is widely receptive to them. One of the alterations in Chinese thought is that it has become increasingly difficult for people to distinguish which values have entered from the West. People often naively welcome them, and many of these ideas have now taken root here.

 

The process of increasing social pluralism in China continues to provide new energy for the country's progress, but it also implanted some very odd uncertainties. The Chinese state and mainstream society on the one side and the United States and the West on the other will in the future compete over the hashing out and managing of these uncertainties.

 

Kerry and the rest of Obama's new cabinet are likely to take a less militarily aggressive strategy toward China and maneuver in other more practical ways, but in its ideological competition, the United States will not retreat.

 

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:
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Ibaraki Shimbun, Japan: After Osprey Deployment, Japan Government 'Cannot Be Trusted'
Huanqui, China: China Must Show 'Courage of its Convictions' in Face of Japan-U.S. Hostility
Huanqui, China: For Helping America Return to Asia, Vietnam will ‘Feel China's Pain’
Huanqui, China: Confronting America Requires Wisdom and Stamina – Not Warships
Global Times, China: China Must Draw a Red Line Against U.S. 'Encirclement'
Global Times, China: Vietnamese Should Beware of U.S.' 'Suspicious Cozying Up'
Mainichi Shimbun, Japan: China 'Must Not Be Permitted' to Push Around Neighbors
Global Times, China: America ‘Disqualified’ as Global Human Rights Judge
Xinhua, China: Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011
Rodong Sinmun, North Korea: America by Far World’s Leading Human Rights Abuser
Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, Russia: Putin is Mistaken to Favor China Over the United States
Huanqiu, China: U.S. Should Keep its Nuclear Weapons Away from Koreas
Global Times, China: America ‘Disqualified’ as Global Human Rights Judge

 

 

This isn't even an issue of foreign policy. It is simply an irresistible impulse - a natural reaction - for the United States to use its cultural and political advantages in the face of China's rise. Ideology and values are the West's biggest advantage.

Posted By Worldmeets.US

 

Whether or not Chinese society and politics shows the courage of its convictions will be of decisive significance. If it does, the powers that be in the United States and the West will be more fearful of friction. On the other hand, if Chinese resolve is erratic, the West will increasingly have the upper hand.

 

After all, America's so-called "values superiority" is a result of hundreds of years of development. If China can successfully defuse this pressure, the nature of competition with the West will have fundamentally changed.

 

How Obama's new cabinet deals with China is important, but China's own attitude is even more so. The trends of Sino-U.S. relations will be shaped far more by the communications and social interactions between Chinese and American societies than the bilateral engagements of government ministries.  

 

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Posted By Worldmeets.US Feb. 7, 2013, 5:05am