While the US blames China for its disregard of international norms and laws, it completely overlooks its active and instrumental role in the Iraq war, the economic embargo on Cuba, the sanctions against Iran, and not to forget, its criminal silence over Israel’s blatant attack on harmless Palestinians in Gaza despite the global outcry. Since the 1980s, in the jest of establishing the “America First” policy, the US has withdrawn from 17 international organizations and treaties. In short, the US has been practicing what China calls “selective multilateralism.”
The US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was invited to deliver an address by the Asia Society on May 26, 2022. The subject was the US Administration’s Policy toward the People’s Republic of China. As expected, the address presented China as a threat, which, if not “contained” and “suppressed”, could become detrimental to world peace. China viewed the polemic as the US’s wilful attempt to build a false narrative of “China Threat,” to the world order. To respond to this smear campaign, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has identified 21 lies Blinken had made in his speech about China. Each lie or fallacy has been comprehensively rebutted to unravel the US’s deceptive outlook as the defender of democracy, human rights, and respect for humanity. We shall discuss each fallacy in a series of articles to see where both countries are positioned vis-à-vis their claims.
Blinken argued: “China poses the most serious long-term challenge to the international order and is undermining it. The US will defend the international law, agreements, principles, and institutions that maintain peace and security and protect the rights of individuals and sovereign nations.” In other words, what the Secretary of State meant was that China has no regard for the international system, international orders, and international relations, and it has unabashedly breached the agreements, covenants, and laws meant to preserve and protect human rights, world peace, and security.
Are these accusations justified? Is China meddling with international order because it interferes in its motive to maintain and augment its hegemony in the world order?
Let us first see how far China and the US have contributed to global peace, security, and development.
Ever since the end of wars among the European countries, the US has gained tremendous power not only as the provider of sustenance to the besieged, broken, ruined, and divided Europe but also as a defender of world peace with the creation of nuclear weapons. World War II ended when the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan’s two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9, 1945. That was just the beginning of the never-ending interference of the US in either launching new wars or joining wars in support of its allies.
According to the rebuttal paper, in the 24-plus year of US history, there were only 16 years in which the US was not at war. Some major wars that have had far-reaching repercussions on the world economy and regional peace were the Vietnam War, the Afghan War, and the Iraq War. Not to speak of the US intervention in the Middle East civil wars that exacerbated violence and political unrest. Each of these steps led to colossal humanitarian disasters.
The latest in the episode of wars has been the US military operations to counter-terrorism, which killed more than 900,000 people, injured millions, and displaced tens of millions. Among those killed, about 335,000 were civilians.
It is appalling and noteworthy that the US blames China for its disregard of international norms and laws, but it completely overlooks its active and instrumental role in the Iraq war, the economic embargo on Cuba, the sanctions against Iran, and not to forget, its criminal silence over Israel’s blatant attack on harmless Palestinians in Gaza despite the global outcry. For any of such blatant behavior, the US had no option but to exit from agreements, treaties, and legal bindings.
Since the 1980s, in the jest of establishing the “America First” policy, the US has withdrawn from 17 international organizations and treaties. In short, the US has been practicing what China calls “ selective multilateralism.”
The game of thrones does not end there. The US has assumed a self-created power to enforce its domestic laws to man international relations. The so-called homeland security, coined after the twin towers fell, has since been used to enact several laws to target and sanction specific countries and individuals.
The notorious ones are the International Emergency Economic Power Act, the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the unforgettable Torricelli Act, and the Helms-Burton Act, which both embargo Cuba.
Last but not least, the US has been using sanctions as a foreign policy tool for decades, usually in situations where it lacked the legitimacy to interfere. Mr. Danial Drezner, a professor at Tufts University, says that sanctions are ineffective and “exert a humanitarian toll.” In this hegemonic framework, it is unlikely for the US to give China an easy passage to economic and political ascendency.
On the contrary, China’s Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and its malleable attitude towards the United Nations Charter and United Nation-centered international system, coupled with the respect for international laws and institutions, have been instrumental in bringing some semblance of peace and security to a world shaken and almost broken by the so-called war on terrorism.
Also, despite its technological prowess, China has been averse to participating in arms races. While the US has refrained from becoming part of the international justice system and the treaties on the non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Trade, China has walked into this peace corridor many times.
In corollary, it is China’s Road and Belt Initiative and its policy of building allies rather than trapping them in debt that has unnerved the US—hence the unfounded game of allegations. Psychology has a name for this behavior, called projection, in which the victims place their negative traits or unwanted emotion on others.
