Russian scholars: the United States will not succeed in pulling allies against China
October 20 The Russian “Viewpoint” website published on October 12 an article entitled “The United States Seeks a Way to Win China Without Fighting”. The author is an associate professor at the Russian University of Finance and Economics Gevorg Mirzayan. The full text is excerpted as follows:
The American diplomatic magnate urged countries not to regard international relations as the global version of the Wild West. Even with the enemy, Washington must play the game according to the rules. Only in this way can we defeat the enemy, instead of putting ourselves and the rest of the world to death. Why does the arrogance of the United States worry even American experts?
Comprehensive containment of China has become the consensus of the two parties
Experts have long been talking about the 21st century will be the era of Sino-US confrontation. This is not due to Donald Trump’s stupidity, nor will it end with Joe Biden’s victory in the November election. Because the two parties in the United States have a consensus on China, the Democrats will also try to “contain China.”
The motivation of the United States is not to protect American manufacturers. The point is that American elites are beginning to see China as a direct threat to national security and its global leadership. This threat cannot be stopped by means of globalization and the so-called liberal world order. Today, the United States has suddenly discovered that it is not feasible to contain China in the same way that it contains and defeat the Soviet Union.
The United States began after Trump came to power and will continue to pursue a comprehensive policy of containing China after he steps down, and it will take all possible means. Sanctions, peripheral military actions, radicalization of the position of the entire region bordering China, terrorist attacks-the United States will do everything it can. Washington believes that their military superiority over Beijing will defeat China in the new Cold War.
Kissinger advises the United States to face reality
However, far from all American experts agree with this argument. Among the critics is the one who “opened” Sino-US relations. He is the former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The 97-year-old Kissinger is a “living fossil” of American diplomacy. He called on Washington and Beijing to limit the conflict to a certain range, otherwise it will evolve into a real war, not a cold war.
For example, Kissinger advised the Chinese and American leaders (especially the American leadership) to pay attention to their words. The diplomat explained: “The leaders of China and the United States should explore what boundaries are insurmountable for the arguments and threats they make.”
Some people may think that in Sino-U.S. relations, they can speak freely, but this is not the case. Trump threatened to impose sanctions on China, which has severely damaged the interests of American companies. Interdependence in the trade field has always been a deterrent to prevent the real escalation of tensions.
Kissinger’s second suggestion is to live in reality. He stated that the United States needs to “in a new way of thinking.” That is to say, it is necessary to understand that in the contemporary world, a country’s “advantages in the strategic and economic fields cannot reach the level that no one can threaten.”
Of course, the superpowers in history could allow themselves to adopt this strategy. As an island nation, Britain once had the world’s largest fleet (larger than the fleets of the world’s second and third largest countries combined), and no other hegemons were allowed in Europe. But this policy ended in bankruptcy. The power of London could neither stop Napoleon’s emergence, nor influence the rise of Bismarck or Hitler.
America’s reputation is discredited
The superpowers of Germany and France were eventually overthrown, and the fall of Britain itself accompanied the rise of the United States. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the United States began to follow the British policy in terms of pressure, putting pressure on all its competitors (from Russia to Germany), investing its own resources in all regions of the world, tarnishing its reputation, and arguing with all regional powers that the United States believed to seek development .
The current situation in the United States is that it cannot concentrate all its resources to contain China. China is catching up with the United States in the field of technology and is also creating a global management system that replaces the United States. All this is being realized, without starting an external war, and without arguing with anyone.
Mike Pompeo called on the entire so-called “free world” to unite against “China”, but the “free world” did not hold high the American flag. One of the reasons is that countries in this “free world” have greater opinions on the United States than on China.
For this reason, the United States should return to the rules of international relations. It is not that “the weak have no rights”, but that the strong and the weak must obey the rule of law. Moreover, the rules of the liberal world are not appropriate-partly because China has risen from it, and partly because these rules were castrated and ruined by the United States itself.
Humanitarian intervention, the defense of human rights, the imposing of ultra-liberal ideas, and the defiance of national sovereignty—the United States is backed by all these norms. This has also led to the discredited, declining reputation and impoverishment of American diplomacy. If the United States needs to regain something, it is the original UN convention, the sovereign principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and the emphasis on common interests.
