There is no doubt that the relationship between the U.S. and China is crucially important not only for the welfare of the U.S. and China, but also for the welfare of the world. That relationship impacts the health, economics, war and peace, and the survival of the human race. Unfortunately, the trajectory of that relationship from the past two decades is leading us to increasing tension, conflicts, ultimately to war, and possibly mutual annihilation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That relationship does not have to progress in that direction. It can lead to a direction that is mutually beneficial for the U.S. and China, as well as for the rest of the world. However, it will require a change in attitude that is not easy. But it could decide on the ultimate welfare of our children and grandchildren in the U.S., China, and the rest of the world. Are we courageous and farsighted enough to make that change? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is the subject of this article.<\/p>\n\n\n
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In the last 40 years, China has transformed itself from an extremely poor and backward country into a healthy country where most of the poverty throughout the country has been eliminated. It is ranked second in the world (2nd only to the U.S.) in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [1], and is ranked first in the world in terms of GDP if purchasing power parity (PPP) is taken into account [2]. China is now engaged in the whole spectrum of the manufacturing process, not only in the lower ends requiring only cheap labor, but also in high technology areas which require deep technical knowledge and also creative innovations. For example, it tops the world in terms of the number of patent applications. [3] China has also developed militarily, with a formidable air force and navy to supplement its large army, with a nuclear arsenal and missiles to deliver them. After suffering more than 100 years of foreign domination and occupation, enduring numerous unequal treaties, China has stood up and is now able to defend its territories that have been encroached on by foreign powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because China has stood up and is now able to defend itself from foreign powers that want to continue their encroachments on China, the U.S. and other foreign powers have been adopting an attitude and position with respect to China that is still based on the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the U.S. is leading the world in terms of economic and military power, the attitude of the U.S. toward China is the most important and that attitude influences strongly the attitude of the other countries. What has been the attitude of the U.S. toward China since China’s rapid rise in the last 30-40 years, especially during the last 10-15 years? In short, the U.S. considers China to be a major threat, not only economically, but also politically, militarily, and ideologically. Furthermore, the threat is not only to the U.S., but also to other countries in southeast Asia and the rest of the world. The U.S. considers China to be a country that needs to be held back, to expose and magnify any mistake or shortcoming, to criticize and attack the country from all angles, to transform China fundamentally, and to find other countries to form alliances to isolate, surround, and weaken China. This attitude is not just representative of one political party, but it represents the view of both the Republican party and the Democratic party over several decades of our presidential administrations, including that of President Biden. It also represents the position of essentially all the major think tanks of our country and the editorial position of all our mass media. [4]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The usual answer is that China is now the U.S.’s chief economic competitor. If China is not held back, if China is not exposed, if we don’t find partners to isolate, surround, and weaken China, then China will unfairly out compete the U.S. and unfairly replace the U.S. as the leading financial power in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if we ignore the racist and unethical mentality behind that attitude, the above argument may make sense superficially from the U.S. perspective except that it ignores two important considerations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, why can’t the U.S. compete successfully against China? Traditionally, it was because of cheap labor in China, so that products made in China are significantly cheaper than products made in the U.S. As the standard of living in China continues to increase, that gap between the standard of living in China and in the U.S. will continue to decrease. Therefore, China will need to move up to the higher end of the economic chain to manufacture products that require more technical knowledge and greater creativity and ingenuity. China has been doing that, and China is doing very well in this higher end of the economic chain. Some examples are high speed trains, large engineering projects like complex bridges, sea terminals and wharfs, solar energy, electric buses, satellites and space explorations, 5G networks, quantum computers, etc. This was already mentioned previously in China leading the world in the number of patent applications. [3] <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why can’t the U.S. continue to remain at the top of the economic chain and outperform China? Since the U.S. is the most technically advanced country in the world and still leads the world in research and also has the best universities in the world, it should be able to accomplish that. But the answer could be very much in the negative if we realize that the U.S. is now so dependent on foreign-born talent as can be seen in the make-up of its graduate students in engineering and a few related science programs. As a matter of fact, the statistics are downright frightening. Here are the data from a 2017 Inside Higher Ed <\/em>report [5]:<\/p>\n\n\n\n