Growing ‘suspicion’ in US of doing business with China, ex-US diplomat says
- Trade and tech conflict gives US groups long suspicious of China ‘perfect opportunity’ to ‘demonise’ relationship, Mark Brzezinski tells Caixin Summit
- Current US government approach to China ‘totally inconsistent’ with basis for normalisation of relations decades ago
Doing business with China is increasingly seen in the US through a “suspicious lens” amid an increasing rhetoric opposing close relations between the world’s two largest economies, according to a former US diplomat.
Speaking at the Caixin Summit in Beijing on Friday, Mark Brzenzinski, who was US ambassador to Sweden in the Obama administration, said the trade war had evolved into a technology conflict and given groups long suspicious of China the opportunity to attack the relationship.
“Increasingly, doing business in China is seen, quite frankly, with an increasingly suspicious lens,” Brzezinski said, contrasting US sentiment against China with its positive view of doing business with Sweden. One reason, he suggested, was the Swedish emphasis on public relations.
Increasingly, doing business in China is seen, quite frankly, with an increasingly suspicious lens
“Unfortunately, the Chinese do not do public relations. That is a fact. Therefore, the human interest story of doing business with China is identified by others, including those who do not like the US-China relationship,” he said.
“For a long time, there has been a small demographic of the security community, military community, policy community and business community who did not like Sino-US relations. They were waiting for an opportunity to demonise that relationship and they have a perfect opportunity now.
“[There are] massive ramifications to this in terms of regular Chinese businesspeople who come to the US and how they are treated in comparison to people from elsewhere.
“Beyond the trade dispute, I am very much worried there is developing in the US an industry around demonising China, an industry built around steering businesspeople away from normal business engagement with the Chinese,” Brzezinski said.
