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Opinion | US is so bent on resisting China’s rise, it has ignored its own decline

  • American rhetoric about the threat of China and attempts to counter its power are both bewildering and frustrating for ordinary Chinese
  • A population that once looked up to the US now looks on aghast at the violence perpetuated both within and outside its borders

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A sign for a firearms store is displayed in Yuma, Arizona, on June 2. US President Joe Biden has urged lawmakers to ban privately owned assault weapons to curb the mass shootings plaguing the country. Photo: AFP

The US’ perception that China is a threat runs contrary to empirical evidence, is mired in ossified ideological thinking and is unacceptable to Chinese academia. To see just where potential evil lies, here are the facts.

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China has not been at war in more than four decades. It doesn’t send destroyers and bombers to cruise the Florida Straits, just to test Washington’s tolerance. China’s military expenditure isn’t even a third of the US’, which spends more to fund its military than the next 10 powers combined.

China’s managed economy wasn’t ruptured by a financial crisis, caused by sheer greed and lack of oversight. Chinese citizens don’t have to arm themselves with firearms, and most of China’s local constabulary don’t even carry guns.

The US government’s never-ending threats, and the outrageous depiction of socialism by American politicians, leaves Chinese people feeling confused and even angry.

In many ways, the US is a beneficiary of China’s bounty and struggle. US consumers save hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars each year buying Chinese products and commodities. The flow of China-made consumer goods to the United States isn’t about to change even as more Chinese companies build plants in America, and US companies grab a greater share of the Chinese market

China holds more than US$1 trillion in US Treasury bonds, which helped it survive the 2008 international financial crisis. Still, a decade later, the US had the temerity to launch a trade war against China, which is only hurting American consumers who are paying the tariffs. Contrary to their own best interests, officials in Washington have now blocked better technologies from China. Why? Just because it comes from China.
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