Opinion | World can live with US-China competition that stays clear of violence

After the spy balloon incident, Americans feel that China has violated US sovereignty and that China poses the greatest existential threat to their country today. Under US economic sanctions, corporate blacklisting and military encirclement, Chinese people believe they are being deprived of the right to equal global citizenship and a prosperous life. Despite the means to pay, there are things Chinese cannot buy.

After decades of toil by hundreds of millions of Chinese who helped to support prolonged global price stability and create a middle class with strong consumption power, China is today considered an economic predator. Meanwhile, the US accuses China of undermining the rules-based global order, and even of destroying it. When it comes to the right to security and prosperity, the world’s two largest powers appear to be at odds.

To make matters worse, the issue of Taiwan has caused the two powers to turn the otherwise peaceful Indo-Pacific into a giant cauldron of tension.

In China, the national media operates as if it were an anti-US news outlet. My stay in China last month was filled with media bombardment on US gun violence, the country’s political deterioration and economic crises.