Writing Thursday (17) in Foreign Affairs, which focuses the international political debate in the United States, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders sounded the alarm: “Don’t start another cold war”. It was the end of Joe Biden’s trip to Europe, when the signs were pointing in that direction, against China.
Sanders, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, begins the text being impressed by the change of sign in the American “consensus” on the most populous nation in the world.
Nearly two decades ago, “the corporate media and virtually every foreign policy expert insisted” on opening up commercially to China, to allow US businesses better access to the growing consumer market.
And now, “the pendulum has gone from being too optimistic about the opportunities offered by unrestricted trade with China to being too hawkish.”
He recalled that a few weeks ago, Biden’s senior advisor for Asia, Kurt Campbell, proclaimed that “the engagement is over” with China, and that in the future “the dominant paradigm will be competition “, which resonated in Chinese, Japanese and Indian newspapers.
In the United States, Sanders does not say so, but the change was marked by the rescuing of the Wuhan laboratory theory, as to the origin of the coronavirus, in now relentless negative news about Beijing.
“Today, instead of touting the virtues of free trade and openness to China, the establishment is beating the drums for a new cold war, making China an existential threat to the United States.”
He recalls the precedent which led to “endless wars”, including the invasion of Iraq, when a similar consensus was exploited, triggering the rise of “xenophobia and intolerance” in the country, then against Arab and Muslim communities – and now, underlines, against Asian Americans, including the Chinese.
“Don’t believe the hype,” Sanders warns. “The increasing pressure for a confrontation with China risks strengthening authoritarian and ultranationalist forces in both countries.”
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But maybe it’s too late, in China too. On the eve of the Foreign Affairs call, Lu Shaye, ambassador to France and today a reference in Chinese diplomacy, gave a long interview to Guancha, a Shanghai publication devoted to political debate, in the opposite direction.
He described “wolf warrior” diplomacy as an “objective need” for the country. “Westerners use the ‘war wolf’ to label us negatively. In fact, it is they, not us, who are offensive and aggressive. We are defending ourselves.”
Hailing newspapers like Global Times for “taking part in the front line in the counterattack of public opinion” and the nationalist support of “netizens” Chinese netizens, Lu proclaimed the era to “hide his strength , wait for his moment “. famous phrase, finished.
For him, the confrontation has only just begun. “We are new to the war of public opinion. This is our weakness. [para isso] like the West. A lot has to be learned slowly, to learn to fight in combat. “
The interview echoed from China to the United States. Wanted by Reuters for comment, Wang Wen of Beijing Renmin University said she was signaling that Xi Jinping’s recent call for a China “kinder” to the world was not an order to back down.
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