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June 30, 2005
Creating an Enemy
Articles on China are all over the news these days. One can think of the ongoing problems with Taiwan, the continuing flap between Japan and China over Japanese interpretation of WWII in textbooks, China holding so much U.S. debt, the recent bid by a government controlled Chinese company to buy Unocal, the large trade deficit, and human rights problems. Those are only what immediate comes to mind. I am beginning to feel that many in the U.S. are creating an enemy in China whether one exists there or not. I am not going to minimize the growth of China and its increasing power in the world community. As it gains economic muscle it is inevitable that Chinese companies and the government will compete and have different interests than the U.S. At this stage China is not an equal of the U.S. and will not necessarily develop into an enemy, yet I read with increasing frequency in the Mainstream Media about emerging conflicts between the two countries which very well could be all out of proportion to the real threats.
Throughout history governments used external threats to consolidate political power. It has always been easier to focus on an external threat than look inward for the source of one's troubles. The Soviet Union provided the U.S. with just that sort of focus for almost 50 years. Likewise the U.S. provided the Soviet Union with an enemy used to rally the home team to reach greater heights of accomplishment, think of the Olympics as one example. With the demise of the Soviet Union and Russia in a state of transition, the Chinese provide the U.S. with the next opponent. Unlike the terrorists, who are definitely the enemy, the Chinese fit the conventional mode of an enemy. They are a country, "communist", have established political and economic structures and occupy a specific place. In many ways they are playing the same game we are, which the terrorists are not. They provide us with the perfect foil.
If one agrees with the premise that thoughts become things it is not inconceivable that we in the U.S. are looking for an enemy. Our sense of competition and paranoia seems to need an opponent. Maybe it is part of the human condition. I wonder if we had a different attitude toward China we would generate different results in our relationship. Or do we really need to battle against another team? I think this is a huge issue. It is certainly in the interests of the military industrial complex to have China as an enemy. It would certainly justify all sorts of new weapons programs. In addition we would have to create educational programs, security systems and who knows what else to stay ahead of the emerging behemoth. Our diplomatic core would be working in overdrive, they would once again have a mission and the world would solidify into black and white in ways that are easier to understand than today's ambiguous terrorist world, one where we never know where our enemy hides. Again I do not want to suggest that the Chinese are peaceful lambs, however I think it is important to pose the issue that perhaps we could be implementing a different strategy.
Posted by Chip Spear at June 30, 2005 7:34 AM
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