By Professor Dennis Etler
Xi called for a multilateral approach to solving the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and emphasized that “No global problem can be solved by any one country alone. There must be global action, global response, and global cooperation.”
Xi's call for multilateralism was endorsed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who stressed that “I would very much wish to avoid the building of blocs.” Merkel told the Davos Forum, “I don’t think it would do justice to many societies if we were to say this is the United States and over there is China and we are grouping around either the one or the other. This is not my understanding of how things ought to be.” Referring to Xi’s speech she said: “The Chinese president spoke yesterday, and he and I agree on that. We see a need for multilateralism."
How has the US responded to President Xi's comments? Incoming Biden Administration Press Secretary Jen Psaki disregarded Xi's remarks and reasserted the same old tired and stale US Cold War rhetoric that "What we've seen over the last few years is that China is growing more authoritarian at home and more assertive abroad. And Beijing is now challenging our security, prosperity, and values in significant ways that require a new US approach."
This pro forma rebuttal shows the inability of the US to move beyond its narrow, self-absorbed foreign policy. The only difference between Trump's "America First" policy and Biden's faux multilateralism is that the Democrats want to lead the anti-China pack while Trump acted as a lone wolf. The US wants to see the relationship between itself and China as a clash of civilizations. It views China as "authoritarian," without defining what is meant by this all-inclusive term that seems to be used to characterize any country that stands in opposition to US economic, political and military hegemony. What the US calls "authoritarian" is in actuality socialism with Chinese characteristics. Based on surveys by Western polling agencies it has the support of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people. And why shouldn't it? So-called Chinese "authoritarianism" has saved China from COVID-19, lifted 800 million people out of poverty, and allowed China to peacefully obtain in a few decades the wealth it took the West hundreds of years of war, slavery, and genocide to accumulate.
And how is China becoming more assertive abroad when it is protecting its national sovereignty at home in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the South China Sea, and its border regions? China is protecting its core national interests like any other nation-state. The US is more than willing to deploy troops around the world, invade sovereign nations, and impose illegal sanctions to protect its self-proclaimed national security interests.
Does China challenge the security, prosperity, and values of the US? The US military budget is far larger than China's, it has military bases surrounding China and sends its navy into Chinese waters, none of which China does vis a vis the US. US prosperity, or lack thereof, is due to US policy decisions, not China's, and "American values" don't hold a candle to Chinese values that have a legacy of thousands of years, not hundreds. President Xi offers a vision of the world based on a peace policy of mutual respect between nations, non-interference in their internal affairs, and win-win cooperation to address the pressing problems the world faces. The US can only respond with its discredited Cold War rhetoric. It is morally, economically, and politically bankrupt and should be rejected by all peace-loving people and countries of the world.
*Dennis Etler is an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs. He’s a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. He has a PhD in anthropology from the University of California in Berkeley. He wrote this article for Press TV website.
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