Op-Ed Contributors

Can America win by confronting China?

By Francis C W Fung (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-25 17:20

Will America win in an all out confrontation with China? The reality is both sides will lose. How much each side will lose? Which nation will recover more readily from the loss suffered from such an unwise and unthinkable confrontation? Will our over reach into another unnecessary cold war be productive? How essential is it for both nations to reach harmony consensus for win- win development instead of confrontation? America should have a public debate on this very urgent and important subject so we are better prepared for the consequences of our confrontational actions should we decide to embark on it.

Leaders of both nations are fully aware of the severe consequences of an avoidable all out confrontation. But a public debate in America is needed so President Obama will not be subjected to undue pressure from the public to provoke China to the point of no return. American media still mire its mind in the past Cold War mentality as to have not done the necessary task to educate American public about China development. We are uninformed and under disillusion about how China could progress so fast economically during the past three decades.

Despite the fact that the 2008 global financial crises was caused by America, there has rarely been any complaint from China. Chinese culture is not known to be critical of others. Fortunately Chinese leaders also read Sun Zi and follow Deng Xiaoping’s foreign policy teaching for China -“Observe developments soberly, maintain our position, meet challenges calmly, hide our capacities and bide our time, remain free of ambition, never claim leadership” and avoid serious confrontations. American leaders are under pressure from the public to confront China for the last half century ever since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Our citizens are constantly reminded by the media that we have the best political system and China must follow the American model to develop (See Martin Jacques, “When China Rules the World”, 2010).

American media has vowed with confidence that China now is more dependent on American market. This media driven misinformation served to build up American confidence to please the public. This misconception of the public can be dangerous as to force our leaders hands on too many unnecessary confrontations with China, as witnessed by our superior than thou attitude on Internet Freedom, sales of arms to Taiwan and Obama’s meeting with Dalai Lama, despite repeated warning from China. On further analysis it is easy to show that America is actually more dependent on China as our banker to support out twin deficits.

Americans think we won the Cold War because of our superior ideology. Over the years, we have convinced ourselves that we are invincible. We also are very proud that our military power is supreme and that we are a creative nation and lead the world in technology. The truth is that our business enterprise is competitive because we have an early action in industrial revolution and our most endowed land attracts vast number of talents who seek opportunities. Ideology is very fickle. A nation can change her ideology on a dime as we witness China’s transformation. During the last three decades of reform and opening up she has proved that her hybrid system of combined state economy with market economy can work quite well. Many foreign talents that used to come from Europe, Japan, China and India are now returning home because economic opportunities in their homelands are growing with increased prosperity. This phenomenon is well known as we saw Japanese and Taiwanese scientists and entrepreneurs returning home during the latter part of last Century and recently some Chinese and Indian talents are doing the same.