As I see it | Why America has always needed an enemy, even as a young republic
China is the latest in a long line of manufactured bogeymen used to justify an empire that is now in unmistakable retreat
It’s rare to find an opinion piece that embodies nearly all the false premises and presuppositions that underpin the American empire, now in undeniable retreat. But Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff to Barack Obama, mayor of Chicago and until recently US ambassador to Japan, has managed to do just that.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal on August 31, Emanuel claims that the question today for Americans is: “Can China be the external threat that restores internal cohesion to our politics?”
He goes on, of course, to claim that “the China threat is both real and potent”. “Can Americans stop fighting each other long enough to appreciate the threat from China?” he asks.
China has never been the enemy
Still, Emanuel writes: “In the wake of 2008, Mr Xi [Jinping] made three determinations. First, that Beijing should view America less as a strategic competitor than a strategic adversary. Second, that the shine had come off the American system after the financial crisis. Third, that American society was too divided to act with common purposes in the face of a geopolitical challenge. Today Mr Xi understands that President [Donald] Trump’s division and chaos is working to China’s advantage.”
Sorry, but this isn’t how the Chinese – and in fact many mainstream Western, including American – economists see it. And it is most definitely not China’s fault that American voters chose Trump a second time. You can’t blame the other team for your own goal.