In the past four years, the United States has provoked a series of incidents of containment, suppression, slander and slander against China, and successfully caused a sharp decline in the relations between China and the United States, which are the largest and second largest economies in the world.
The deterioration of Sino-US relations has brought substantial damage to many stakeholders. Some Americans have begun to consider how to improve the relations between the two countries, but they obviously did not realize the reason for the deterioration of Sino-US relations.
According to the news on the website of the Chinese Embassy in the United States on December 5, Cui Tiankai, the ambassador to the United States, was invited to attend the annual meeting of the China-US Studies Center.
During the dialogue on the future Sino-US relations, Steve, the chairman of the National Committee on US-China Relations, served as a supporter. ·Ollens asked: “Whether China intends to reopen the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, invite deported American journalists to return to China, and lift the ban on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post websites in China” Improve relations between China and the United States.
Ollens believes that these two proposals will help improve China’s image in the United States. Just like the “ping-pong diplomacy” promoted by Dr. Kissinger, it will help to form a positive public opinion base for China in the United States, and then promote the U.S. government to China. Take more constructive actions.
He said in the dialogue that the views of all walks of life in the United States towards China are very negative. Polls show that 70% to 80% of Americans disagree with Chinese behavior.
I don’t know if Orens, the chairman of the National Committee on US-China Relations, lacks a basic understanding of what the United States is doing, or he deliberately put forward such a lack of common sense suggestion by deliberately trying to understand and pretend to be confused. But from his questions, we can see the arrogant attitude and hegemonic logic of the United States and most Western developed countries towards China, that is: I can beat you, you cannot fight back, if you fight back, you are wrong; now I fight you, You fight back, so we have a very negative view of you; you have to kowtow to admit your mistakes, let us see your sincerity and goodwill, and then push the government to change its attitude towards you.
Does the thinking of the United States still stay at the time when China was invaded and colonized by foreign powers? At that time, the weak and incompetent Qing government did not have any courage to resist in front of the powerful ships and guns of the great powers, did not dare to say a “no”, and could only accept all the unequal treaties issued by the great powers.
It has been 71 years since the founding of New China, and China has also become the second largest economy in the world. However, their vision and attitude towards China are far from keeping up with the development of the times.
From common sense, Ollens is very aware of the reasons why China closed the US consulate in Chengdu, expelled US journalists in China, and banned US media websites. So why does he still ask such ridiculous questions? The answer can be found from an episode during the US election. In mid-April, the Trump and Biden camps respectively released advertisements accusing each other of being “friendly to China”, showing that they are tougher towards China; in subsequent election campaigns, China was repeatedly picked up by them as a topic of attacking each other.
The most direct reason why China is frequently criticized in general elections is that whoever is tougher on China can gain more support from voters. If China compromises because of the toughness of the United States, it proves the correctness of the US policy of tough pressure on China.
Compromise and appeasement cannot be exchanged for the goodwill of the United States. It will only make the United States, which has tasted the sweetness, intensified its oppression of China.
Ollens divided the Americans and the American government into two, and asked China to improve its image in the United States to gain the goodwill of the American people, and then the people would push the government to change its strategy toward China.
Isn’t this a fool? How can Americans influence government decisions? To cite a simple example, “Black people’s fate is also fate” demonstrations are huge! The power of social support is spectacular! The damage caused to American society is immeasurable, but has the US government imposed restrictions on police violent enforcement methods? There are demonstrations here, and the tragedies of black people dying tragically under police enforcement have never stopped.
In other words, even if China reopens the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, invites deported American journalists to return to China, and lifts the ban on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post websites, will it be possible to obtain Americans? The goodwill of China is still a false proposition; even if the goodwill of the Americans is obtained, it is still unknown whether the US government can take more constructive actions against China. Besides, it is not uncommon for us to obtain goodwill from the United States in this way.
The American people hold a negative view of China. The culprit is the U.S. government and the media.
It is their incitement and various methods of public opinion guidance that lead to, as Ollens said, “70% to 80% of Americans do not agree with Chinese behavior. “. This means that if the US government does not change its China policy, it is completely impossible for Americans to change their perceptions of China.
Regarding Ollens’s question, Ambassador Cui’s answer was spectacular. He pointed out: It was not China that closed the US consulate in China first, nor was China the first to expel US journalists in China. Everything we do is in response to the actions of the US.
Therefore, if the US government is willing to reverse this process, we are willing to consider it. In order to get the relations between the two countries back on track and achieve real improvement, both sides must show goodwill and sincerity.
I don’t think China should do something to please anyone. We always stand for maintaining a healthy and good relationship with the United States and never take the initiative to take provocative actions, but we must defend our own interests and we must respond. With kindness versus goodwill, with sincerity versus sincerity.
This answer not only pointed out the crux of the contradiction between China and the United States, but also prescribed prescriptions for diagnosis and treatment, and at the same time demonstrated China’s attitude of neither humble nor overbearing.
As a matter of fact, there is one more sentence left after “with goodwill to goodwill and sincerity to sincerity”, that is, “blood for blood, tooth for tooth”. Ambassador Cui’s implication is that China can’t give the kindness Ollens needs.
