War with China won't make America great again

Zhou Yue:

"From race to immigration from tax to health care america cannot agree on a single issue. Nowadays Americans are asking themselves: who am I? America is divided, but President Trump thinks the topic of China can unite his country. He started with a campaign to condemn and when there was a will to condemn, "evidence" follows. Ssince late June the Administration has rode out four top officials to declare war on China.

We've now reached the point where the FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case about every 10 hours. The CCP's stated goal is to create a community of common destiny for mankind and to remake the entire world according to the CCP.

The People's Republic of China is now engaged in an economic blitzkrieg and Mr Pompeo chose the Nixon Library - the man who opened up US- China relations as the site of his speech to declare that Nixon was wrong. The closure of the consulate was the opening salvo. Yes, in that way China can unite America, but that is an America that sees everything in its past as an obstacle and everyone running away as the enemy - an angry, delusional and dangerously blind America. Americans cannot be what they are not. Almost all Americans know China is different. But more Americans think China is bad, but they fail to see it is exactly the difference that generate the bad feeling. Americans see only coercion and repression in Xinjiang, they don't see threats from poverty and extremism from the Chinese point of view. They don't live on the land. The same reason the Chinese see Black Lives Matter as a moral issue, but the racial issue goes deep into American history and is more complex than many Chinese think. Intellectual exclusion is the most terrible thing in America, poisoning both the right and the left.

Too often we hear liberals saying trump is wrong on everything except on China. What if both are wrong?

Nobody should be too sure about what they believe and that is why Bertrand Russell said "I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."

Increasingly, it looks like America is manufacturing consent for a future war with China using the same tactics it did with Vietnam and Iraq, demonising an entire society, silencing dissent, hyping the threat and manipulating the national psyche.

American leaders are making Americans stare at China without seeing it, but there is anidentity that can unite China and the US: be a reformer.

Although China is an Asian system. It rests on reforms. China has totally revamped its system from economic fundamentals to social freedom.

Imagine changing the course for 1 billion people in 40 years. And yet China did and without launching a war or shedding blood. The Chinese are stubbornly conservative, but they're also boldly innovative. They respect their forefathers but they also endeavour harder for their children. America is facing a tough choice as well around issues such as racism, immigration, inequality and health care. Matters will continue to worsen if America does not confront its challenges. America needs the boldness and courage to reform like China did 40 years ago but China can also tell America another thing: don't take radical and extreme measures. Extremes in whatever form or shape will corrupt the people and compromise the country. The polarisation in politics and society are dragging America into an abyss.

There was a time that China went that way during the Cultural Revolution and we all know what it cost the country. The US and China both offer different societal and governance models, but neither version is black and white. We live in a world of 100 shades of grey. To be a realist, we should neither worry nor wait for change. We need to climb up to the top of sail and adjust it. China's experience can unite America. Actually, it is the same gene in both their blood: pragmatism. Both Americans and the Chinese are masters of it. It is just sometimes we are distracted. 

Yes, we don't agree on who we are and maybe what we want, but at least we can agree on what we don't want: a war, literally or metaphorically.

China and the US are competing but competition is not an end in itself. Let us not forget we are also cooperating for the pockets and mouth of the world. A fissure will damage global commerce and upset lives from Sichuan to San Francisco. We are creating values for the world but it can only happen on a tennis court, not a boxing ring. China cannot tell what will make America great again but it can say how it starts from within, not without. It depends on us to be moderate, not mad."