Opinion | The US has been getting China all wrong for two decades
- History will not judge recent US policy towards China kindly: intellectual and political laziness have rendered it incapable of accepting China’s rise or responding effectively to its increasing overreach
- A policy recalibration is needed on both sides, for the sake of all
Did you know that, in American-speak, a group of flying corvids is not called a “flock” but a “murder”? Right now, amid the warm Laguna area of southern California, whip-smart crows are already spreading their wings in anticipation of spring.
They’re not armed with flight plans to dive-bomb people barbecuing in their backyards. Instead, these tradition-bound, family-oriented, hard-working survivors will soon be scoping out reliable food sources and supply lines with assertive aerial surveillance.
Yes, feathering their nest can get to be quite a racket, but, on the whole, their needs are well accepted by the settler Homo sapiens here, so that in this Pacific neighbourhood, a steady peace prevails between birdkind and mankind.
For decades now, Singaporean professor and diplomat Kishore Mahbubani has been warning everyone that America was not emotionally or intellectually prepared to process and accept, within bounds, the historic resurfacing of China. How spot on this crusading thinker has been.
