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The spate of anti-China paranoia emanating from the Western capitals doesn't seem to stop.
U.S. President Joe Biden's first formal national security strategy, released late Wednesday, named China as "America's most consequential geopolitical challenge," while calling upon Washington's allies to rebuild alliances to effectively "outcompete" China.
In what clearly looks like a well-planned and concerted move to intensify the so-called "China threat" propaganda campaign, British media was abuzz earlier Wednesday with reports claiming Prime Minister Liz Truss's government is preparing to formally designate China as a "threat" to the UK "within days."
The latest round of coordinated anti-China rhetoric from Washington and London came close on the heels of British spy chief Jeremy Fleming drumming up needless fear over Beijing's growing global "technological dominance" in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) defense think-tank a day earlier.
The U.S. policy document, heavily focused on countering China and Russia, spells out the broad contours of Washington's strategy that had been evident over the past 21 months of Biden's presidential term. It is an obvious testament to Biden's blinkered vision of a world where the U.S. and its allies are increasingly in contest and conflict with China and Russia in a Cold War-style standoff.
The section on U.S.'s "global priorities" lists "outcompeting China and constraining Russia" as Washington's top-most priority. "China and Russia are increasingly aligned with each other but the challenges they pose are, in important ways, distinct. We will prioritize maintaining an enduring competitive edge over China while constraining a still profoundly dangerous Russia," it states.
One gets the impression that the U.S. foreign policy has completely given up on the ideas of peaceful cooperation and coexistence but is increasingly pushing for a geopolitical scenario that heats up tensions with China and Russia, eventually leading to a full-fledged conflict. This is a disastrous approach for the entire world.
Across the Atlantic, in the capital of the U.S.'s closest ally the UK, a similar narrative pitching the West against China and Russia is being pushed vehemently, perhaps to influence their other partners in Europe and elsewhere.
If reports are to be believed, British Prime Minister Truss is poised to bring in a new hawkish policy declaring China as a "threat" to her country, placing it next to Russia, which is currently classified as "the most acute threat" facing the UK. Under her predecessor, Boris Johnson, China was classified as a "systemic competitor," but it seems Truss is inclined to harden the UK's China policy further.
The UK under Prime Minister Truss, it seems, is abandoning its pragmatism and acquiescing completely to the U.S.'s unrelenting pressures on its allies to take a hostile stance towards China. The decision could also spell doom for Truss if she is using the anti-China position only as a tactic to shore up her faltering premiership.
Truss's month-old government faces a gargantuan challenge of restoring the UK's staggering economy and polity still convalescing from the aftereffect of Brexit at a time of global turbulence including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and an ongoing global pandemic. On top of that, the government is caught up by party divisions and increasing unrest over Truss's economic policy which has seen the value of the sterling nosedive, soaring borrowing costs and the Bank of England forced to bail out pension funds.
Being tough on China seems to be Truss's political gambit to silence critics at home and at the same time please Washington, which may prove disastrous in the long run. As such, when London must be focused on making more partners and allies, the prime minister's impending decision will foolishly pit it against the world's second-largest economy which also happens to be among the UK's top trading partners.
'China's development doesn't threaten anyone'
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning addresses a press conference in Beijing, China, October 12, 2022. [Photo/China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs]
Irrespective of such concerted efforts by the imperial forces of the U.S. and the UK to portray China as a global threat, the truth is well-known to the rest of the world. The international community is aware of China's long-standing foreign policy founded on peaceful coexistence and mutual growth.
"China's development brings opportunities to other countries, not threats or challenges. We hope that the new UK government can view China and China-UK relations in an objective and rational light," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said reacting to the reports on Wednesday. "Subscribing to the obsolete mindset of 'China threat' benefits no one and will eventually backfire. Such an approach leads nowhere," she added.
The latest policy moves from Washington and London reveal a deep-rooted Cold War mentality and ideological bias targeted at China and also Russia. China's development is aimed at making lives better for the Chinese people. It will only contribute positively to world peace and stability. China's development does not target anyone, much less, pose any threat to other counties, including the U.S. and the UK.
Making an issue out of China and stoking antagonism and confrontation does not rid the U.S. or the UK of their own problems. The so-called "China threat" is a fantasy of their own making and reveals their underlying insecurities stemming from the fear of losing their hegemonic status in an increasingly multi-polar world.
As such, the strategy of labeling China as a global threat is bound to fail.
