For the last few years, Americans have used every platform to disseminate that China is the most dangerous challenge to the current world order. They have habitually favored their domestic law over international laws to upgrade their position while threatening global stability. On the contrary, China is a founding member of the United Nations and was the first country to sign the UN charter. Historically, it has taken all the optimal measures to preserve the international order and has seldom engaged in coercive diplomacy despite facing numerous challenges from its rivals.
A worthy figure in the contemporary world, Noam Chomsky has said on multiple occasions that if the Nuremberg principles were applied, every post-World War II US president would be indictable. The country claiming to be the chief guardian of human rights, democracy, and other values faces an uphill to proving the propagated belief. For the last few decades, the Americans have used their global outreach and lobbies to portray to the world that “China’s threat” is real and inevitable. To suppress China, the US has relied on deceptive, hypocritical, and dangerous language to contain and suppress Chinese growth. The falsehoods present in the American narrative to depict China as a threat to western values backfires when the history of the US is studied carefully.
For the last few years, the Americans have used every platform to disseminate that China is the most dangerous challenge to the current world order and is undermining it. On the other hand, they have defended the stance of Washington for upholding the international norms and rights of sovereign states. In reality, the US has consistently molded the international order to satisfy its hegemonic lust and vowed for the US-dominated order to achieve its national interests. The quest that started with the Korean War stretched throughout the Cold War and the United States continues to intervene in the affairs of other states – as evident in the Syrian Civil War and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Iraq and Afghanistan’s destruction in the name of the War on Terror augments the loopholes in the Americans’ claims. Similarly, the US has withdrawn from 17 international organizations and treaties since the 1980s – most of them being unilateral decisions. According to a poll by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation in 53 countries nearly a year ago, the US was seen as a bigger threat to democracy than Russia and China.
The US has habitually favored its domestic law over international laws to upgrade its position while threatening global stability. On the contrary, China is a founding member of the United Nations and was the first country to sign the UN charter. Historically, the country has taken all the optimal measures to preserve the international order and will always be a defender of peace. China upholds the notion of multilateralism and strategic stability as one of the top contributors to peacekeeping. Thus, China has always been a keen stakeholder in promoting the international order put forward by the UN.
Jose Marti, the Cuban nationalist hero wrote in 1894, “The further they draw away from the United States, the freer and more prosperous the Latin American people will be”. Now it seems that he was right about the judgment since US intervention has been a major cause of conflicts around the globe. The US claims to be respectful and considerate towards other states in diplomatic terms while blaming China for being coercive and retaliative. The US privileges to be a lenient entity to allow countries to follow a free route and refrain from using force but realities on the ground reveal an opposite story. Ranging from economic blockades to unilateral sanctions, the Americans have constantly used force and coercion to excel their goals. The US’s policy towards Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos in the 1970s is a prime example of coercive diplomacy to gain supremacy. Another recent example is the freezing of seven billion US dollars in assets of the Afghan central bank which has pushed the country towards one of the worst humanitarian crises. The military engagement in Syria, Yemen, and other countries in the Middle East flash the unnecessitated use of its military might.
America’s policy is driven by the notion of “US VS THEM” where they rely on duress to treat the opposing sides. On the contrary, China has seldom engaged in coercive diplomacy despite facing numerous challenges from its rivals. China does not threaten countries and neither creates military alliances which is a common practice for the US. It is against the idea of exporting ideologies as evident in its response toward Taiwan and Hong Kong. China has effectively used its economic power to incentivize countries and has used the right to take the necessary and legitimate steps to safeguard its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security.
The US may disagree with the impression that its policies are fuelling a new Cold War, but it is using all the possible means to contain the growth of China. China is perceived as a major power blocking the domination of America in the Asia Pacific which pushes the US to deploy its domestic as well as external resources to suppress China.
From creating blocks in the region to restricting Chinese products’ entry into its domestic market, America’s fear of China’s emergence is obvious. The US has violated the principles of international trade and fair competition by placing almost 1000 Chinese companies on various sanctions lists. The use of disinformation and misinformation to fabricate propaganda against China in the name of human rights violations in Xinjiang has disrupted the international trade and supply chain. The US has been involved in fuelling in interfering in the domestic affairs of China in the form of overtly and covertly supporting Taiwan to provoking separatist movements in other regions. Such actions from the US not only signal a possible clash between the two states but also possess the ability to distort international peace. The ties between the two countries should be based on equality, mutual respect, and a win-win situation instead of competing ruthlessly.
To conclude, the contemporary era is termed a post-truth era where narratives and perceptions create a baseline for national interests. The US has successfully used its position to portray a saviour-like image of itself while defaming its rivals such as China and Russia. The US narrative is based on falsehoods and deceptions that need to be looked at more comprehensively. The country claims to be a champion of human rights, democracy, and other humanitarian values but its actions on the ground have been in the opposite direction. If the stance US opts to deal with other countries is applied to its affairs, then it might be subjected to certain supreme international crimes. There is a need to conduct an in-depth analysis of the US claims as facts of history often serve the needs of power.
