Commentary: The bogus 'China threat' theory

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-11 18:52

Some readers suspect trade protectionism and speaking for certain interest groups are the story's motives.

"I think it needs consorted effort to bring manufacture job back to the United States. The Business Week is just doing its share of effort. It is discouraging that we can't trust anyone in the media in the United States, from politicians to newspapers to established news media outfit. Hopefully Internet will allow us to disrupt all these lies manufactured by the interest groups," a reader named "Huns" wrote.

Judging from these responses, one might raise doubts about the author's common sense in international trade and technology and the conduct of journalism.

The "China threat" theory has a long history in the United States but has never become a mainstream theory.

What made the story even more irrelevant is that it was written at a time when most politicians and scholars in the United States look into the US-China relationship in a mature, constructive and forward-looking manner.

From time to time, there may pop up different versions of the "China threat" theory.

What the Business Week story attempted to do, apparently, is to mix up the "Chinese military threat," "Chinese product threat" and "China espionage threat."

But none of them was self-sustaining and each has already been ridiculed by the media and experts.

The Time magazine noted that the "Chinese military threat" is no more than an excuse used by the Pentagon to ask for more funds to buy weaponry.

Many US food experts said the "Chinese product threat" is bragging and misleading.

The Forbes magazine suggested that some government agency's obsession with "Chinese espionage" has led to abuse of investigative power.

In history, the bogus "China threat" theory, no matter in what forms and variations, never became a problem for the increasingly mature and constructive US-China relationship.

In every case, the theory only ended up dismantled.

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