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Cold War with China Intensifies

Publisher Art Hall

By Art Hall, publisher

Back in September, I wrote about our increasingly tense relationship with China; despite ongoing talks, things grow more strained, not less. While human nature prefers serenity over tension, that does not mean we back away from stress when called for. Surely, we’d like to continue to buy cheap goods from China, and we’d prefer that the stock market continue upward, but we do what we have to do.
President Trump recently met with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, in Buenos Aires, and there agreed to a 90-day hiatus to an all-out trade war, but the negotiations will be ongoing. I wish that I felt optimistic about anything changing. The fact is China has demonstrated that it is intent upon attaining far-reaching economic and military aims which include upsetting the world order as we know it. 
What makes it clear to us that their negotiations are a ruse is the lack of seriousness Xi attributes to our talks. To reach their objectives, China must have our technology, our training of their students, and the trade surpluses. The fairness to both parties which President Trump is insisting upon would strengthen both them and us, and deprive them of the dominant position they are aggressively seeking. Instead of negotiating in good faith, they are responding by seeking ways to hold on to their one-sided arrangements, by hook or crook.
Like it or not, we are fighting a tiger, and the only way we can emerge intact is to recognize that this will be a painful struggle.
China’s goals of domination differ from our desires because our government’s fundamental structure differs. America is a republican democracy, where the people’s will is regularly expressed at the ballot box. Democracies elect people who give them what they desire — and the public doesn’t want unnecessary war. Autocratic governments, like China, tend more to view their people as tools to be used to achieve national glory. On the other hand, we don’t dream about how we are going to dominate the world; instead, we go for the win-win.
All of that said, Americans have always sacrificed when we see the necessity.  Fortunately, we are seeing the requirement to do so in this situation. As William Galston wrote in the Dec. 4, 2018 Wall Street Journal, “The relationship (between the U.S. and China) is deteriorating, and the American people know it. As recently as 2011…51 percent of Americans had a favorable view of China. By this spring the figure had fallen to 38 percent.”
“… A decade ago, expectations for the smooth integration of China into the American-led economic order ran high, as did hopes for China’s political liberalization. No longer. …Mr. Xi is leading a carefully organized, well-funded, often-covert effort to reduce foreign opposition to his grand strategy. …(A) Hoover Institution … report assesses examples of China’s rapidly growing influence on American society and politics—in Congress, state and local governments, universities, think tanks, corporations, the media, and the Chinese-American community.
“…The influence is also pronounced at American universities. …(R)esearch centers backed by Beijing use their resources and reach to attack the academic freedom of professors. Universities become subject to pressure and even retaliation when they publish research or host events that offend the political sensibilities of China’s government and Communist Party…”
China has been sneaking up on us for years now. Fortunately, they have become more forthright and visible in their intentions to dominate, giving us the clarity we need to launch our response. 

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