Bashing China Has Replaced The Diplomatic Dialogue

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is currently in China where she does her best to further piss off her host.

Yellen, in Beijing, Criticizes China’s Treatment of U.S. Companies – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023
The concerns of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reflect continuing tensions between the two countries.

Yellen Urges China to Step Up Climate Finance Investments – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023
Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, said China, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, can have “greater impact” tackling climate change by working with other nations.

Washington Raises Pressure on China to Combat U.S.’s Fentanyl Crisis – NY Times, Jul 7, 2023

The general attitude of the U.S. is that it can harass China with whatever it likes under its ‘national security’ mantle while it has a right to expect China to cooperate in other fields. It is a ‘don’t look at what we do but at what we say’ policy.

This anecdote from the last link explains it well:

During the Blinken visit, the secretary told reporters that the two countries had agreed to “explore setting up a working group or joint effort” to combat fentanyl trafficking. But any prospects for cooperation faded just days later when U.S. federal prosecutors announced the indictment of four Chinese companies accused of trafficking chemicals used by Mexican drug cartels to manufacture vast quantities of fentanyl sold in the United States.

China can easily deflect these accusations. Citing the Cocaine find in the White House it underlines that the failure of U.S. internal drug policies has nothing to do with China:

‘White lines’ in the House: Can the US ever eliminate its drug epidemic? – Global Times, Jul 6 2023

The presence of drugs in the White House serves as a perfect example of the inability of the US, as a drug-infested nation, to manage illegal substances effectively. Apart from showing a sense of embarrassment, Biden’s mysterious smile probably also proved how resignedly Biden is in the face of the drug epidemic in the country. With illegal substances infiltrating the White House and US presidents setting an example as drug users, one wonders if the US can ever truly eradicate its drug crisis.

China is ready to cooperate but the way the U.S. behaves makes it impossible. If you sit in a glasshouse and throw stones don’t be surprised when other will point this out.

China urges US to create conditions for counter-narcotics cooperation – Global Times, Jul 7, 2023

Analysts said that public data shows that the US population accounts for only 5 percent of the global population, but consumes 80 percent of the world’s opioid, and the US has not permanently scheduled fentanyl-related substances as a class yet. In May 2019, China took the lead in the world by scheduling fentanyl-related substances as a class, effectively curbing the flow of these scheduled chemicals into illicit drug production channels through international trade and contributing to the prevention of trafficking and drug abuse.

At Naked Capitalism Richard Wolff is pointing to a major problem with accusing China of this or that.

It’s Hard for Americans to Engage in China-Bashing Without Tripping on Contradictions

The contradictions of China-bashing in the United States begin with how often it is flat-out untrue. The Wall Street Journal reports that the “Chinese spy” balloon that President Joe Biden shot down with immense patriotic fanfare in February 2023 did not in fact transmit pictures or anything else to China. White House economists have been trying to excuse persistent U.S. inflation saying it is a global problem and inflation is worse elsewhere in the world. China’s inflation rate is 0.7 percent year-on-year. Financial media outlets stress how China’s GDP growth rate is lower than it used to be. China now estimates that its 2023 GDP growth will be 5 to 5.5 percent. Estimates for the U.S. GDP growth rate in 2023, meanwhile, vacillate around 1 to 2 percent.

China-bashing has intensified into denial and self-delusion—it is akin to pretending that the United States did not lose wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and more. …

Stephen Roach fears correctly that the way the U.S. currently handles China will only make things worse:

In a three-hour meeting in Bali last November, Presidents Biden and Xi agreed on the broad parameters of what to do — namely, to put on a floor on this worrisome deterioration. The recent diplomatic flurry can be thought of in that light — restarting a dialogue with the sole intent of limiting any further damage. That took a while, but diplomatic reengagement is now under way.

But then what?  The image of a floor speaks to the minimum that both leaders expect from each other as responsible stewards of a fragile world.  Yet with the impacts of additional tough actions likely to come in the next few weeks and months — namely, further tech sanctions, widely telegraphed restrictions on outbound US foreign direct investment into China, and Chinese tit-for-tat actions on selected rare earth exports — there is no guarantee that the newly established floor will be strong enough to withstand additional blows.

Without reinforcement, this floor could turn out to be surprisingly shaky. …
…
The diplomats are emphasizing the thaw after a big freeze. I remain very wary of concluding that the worst is over. For the time being, conflict escalation is on a tenuous hold, at best. It remains to be seen if both security-focused superpowers are doing little more than running in place.

On hope is that large U.S. companies, which make good profits in China, will use the election campaign to press for a less hostile China policy.

Should that not work out the U.S.-China relation may well slip down a costly path towards a larger conflict.

Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.

The post Bashing China Has Replaced The Diplomatic Dialogue appeared first on LewRockwell.