As US fears of China grow hotter, those with Chinese backgrounds face the coldest war yet
Chi Wang says fears in the US over the threat that China presents is creating a situation unseen since the thaw in relations in 1972, and Chinese students, Chinese experts and even Chinese-Americans are beginning to feel like they don’t belong there
Earlier this month, the Aspen Security Forum took place in Colorado, gathering together sitting and retired officials from the US intelligence community and State Department, think tank experts and media pundits, to discuss the major security issues facing the US today. During the conference, Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, described China as “the broadest, most challenging, most significant threat [Americans] face as a country”. He went on to argue that “China is trying to position itself as the sole dominant superpower, the sole dominant economic power. They're trying to replace the United States in that role”.
I am not surprised by these comments. After all, it is the responsibility of the intelligence community to look for potential threats and imagine worst-case scenarios. What worries me, however, is how pervasive such commentary was during the conference and how it involved not just the intelligence community but also policymakers and the media.
However, by labelling the relationship a cold war and painting China as America’s biggest threat, attempting to usurp the US position in the world by any means necessary, the US is only heightening the tension and making conflict more likely.
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I remember the cold war. I had only recently come to the US from China. McCarthyism targeted influential Americans – government officials and movie producers – and the study of China diminished as scholars feared being labelled communists. I see similar trends starting in the US today. Veteran diplomat Susan Thornton faced obstacles to heading the State Department’s East Asian bureau, for instance, due to claims that she was too soft on China.
Never before have I felt the way I do now – like my “Chineseness” somehow makes me less American or less trustworthy. The US is my home. I have lived in the US for more than 70 years and worked for the US government for 50 years before retiring and, yet, I am beginning to feel unwelcome here.
This growing cold war mentality is dangerous. Not only can it lead to a witch hunt and the shunning of China experts, reducing the number of our experts who can actually make sound China policy, but it also limits the way we think about China. If we label China the enemy, we cannot see them as anything else. We reduce the world to zero-sum outcomes, overlooking the benefits of cooperation. We ignore how complex the US-China relationship is and how globalised the world is today.
It is not possible to stick China behind an iron curtain like we did with the Soviet Union. Our economies are too interconnected and China is already so ingrained in our global system.
We should be focusing on strengthening our country and regaining our own alliances and influence. We should find ways to cooperate and build trust while simultaneously working with other countries to address our tangible concerns about China. Because, if we really are in a cold war right now, I’m not sure the US is winning.
Chi Wang, a former head of the Chinese section of the US Library of Congress and former university librarian at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is president of the US-China Policy Foundation