Ex-Chinese envoy warns youth against ‘blind worship’ of US or assuming Western decline

Former ambassador Cui Tiankai advises university graduates in Shanghai to have comprehensive, realistic and evolving understanding of US development

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During a university commencement address in Shanghai on Sunday, former ambassador Cui Tiankai advised young people to be realistic in their views of the US. Photo: Weibo

Published: 6:42pm, 8 Jul 2024Updated: 2:34am, 9 Jul 2024

China’s young people should avoid “wishful thinking” about the United States, according to Cui Tiankai, the country’s former ambassador to the US.

The veteran diplomat made the remarks at a commencement ceremony at ShanghaiTech University on Sunday, telling the graduates they should avoid oversimplifying the rise and fall of a great power or the geopolitical complexities between the two countries.

Cui, China’s longest serving ambassador to the US, warned against both an unrealistic adoration of the US or the view that America is declining and will never recover.

“Blindly worshipping the US is not a scientific or objective understanding. On the other hand, believing that the US will inevitably decline and fall into ruin is also a one-sided and absolutist view, inconsistent with reality and objectiveness,” said Cui, who served as Beijing’s envoy to Washington from 2013 to 2021.

Despite recent efforts to stabilise relations, ties between China and the US have been hit by tensions over the South China Sea and Taiwan and increasing US export restrictions on hi-tech goods such as advanced semiconductors.

He said “the US does have a lot of problems – very big problems” but pointed to its military and financial strengths, as well as its leadership in scientific and cultural areas.