Should America be afraid of China?
America needs to understand China, but it need not be afraid of China. Why not?
China and the U.S. are afraid of certain tendencies in each other. China is afraid of America militarily surrounding it. America is afraid that China wants to dominate Asia and in effect push us out. I think we should find common projects on which we can work together, that create a sense of cooperation and community, so that the issue of confrontation will arise in relationship to specific practical cooperative projects rather than strategic confrontations. In your book On China you seem to favor China’s appetite for patience when it comes to foreign relations over America’s affection for the pre-emptive strike.
That isn’t true. What I say is, Americans, based on our history, have found most problems soluble. When an issue arises, we think it can be solved, and then it goes away. That’s in part because our history has been short and very successful. The Chinese history goes back thousands of years, and in their mind, no problem has a final solution; every solution is an admission ticket to another problem. For the Chinese, history is a living reality. That’s the psychological difference. But I don’t attach value judgments. Is your rosy view of China informed by your firm’s work for the Chinese government?
We do not take any government as a client — anywhere. And we take no money from the Chinese government or any Chinese sources.
