foreign policy
coronavirus

Is the Era of Cooperation Between the U.S. and China Finished?

Journal of Political Risk
MacAndrews & Forbes
Genesis
Response
Penultimate
Finale

Frances Townsend

MacAndrews & Forbes

April 14th, 2020
Dr. Corr describes me as “sanguine” about our future cooperation with China, although I am skeptical, I’d be more accurately described as a Kissinger school realist. “As the name implies, realism tries to explain world politics as they really are, rather than describe how they ought to be. For realists, power is the centerpiece of political life: Although other factors sometimes play a role, the key to understanding politics lies in focusing on who has power and what they are doing with it.” Dr. Corr describes China’s pandemic handling as negligent, however, absent facts it is unclear if it was negligent at best or intentional at worst. Only additional insight will answer that question. The Asia Society letter made clear that, regardless, China must answer for their conduct.
Both the Asia Society letter and Dr. Corr call attention to China’s lack of transparency in their handling of the ongoing pandemic and I agree with Dr. Corr that China has also been self-serving with regard to climate change. Both issues coupled with their lack of compliance at the WTO and their malign influence on the WHO, which Dr. Corr failed to acknowledge, demonstrates that the U.S. has been frequently out maneuvered by China. We must be tougher and more demanding going forward, but tougher does not mean walking away. While we cannot impose our values on others, we can, and must, remain engaged.
Dr. Corr and I agree that Chinese influence operations using Chinese State advertising should be banned from all U.S. social media. However, he fails to mention the equally pernicious, covert “research grants” to elite Universities and professors, totaling millions of dollars. These are a back door to the theft of advanced scientific research and a serious counterintelligence concern. When we do engage, all Chinese misbehavior must be on the bilateral agenda, including military expansionism, intellectual property theft and the international arms race. While any progress with the Chinese will be difficult, one thing is certain, there can be no progress by complete disengagement. President Trump has proven the value of tough, pragmatic engagement in the most recent and ongoing trade negotiations.
When I previously mentioned China’s “abysmal human rights record,” I was referring in part to Chinese mass detention, forced labor and mistreatment of the Uyghurs. The Uyghurs are a serious human rights issue, but not, as Dr. Corr raises it, a counterterrorism issue. Frankly, for him to raise the Uyghurs in the context of terrorism, plays directly into the Chinese Communist Party propaganda and influence campaigns that he decries.
More than fifty years ago, Nixon warned of the dangers of China in “angry isolation” from the rest of the world. I continue to believe that the U.S. should: engage where it is in our interest, confront misconduct with facts, deal with China harshly and hold them accountable for malfeasance, then compete and outperform because I am confident in American power, strength and innovation.
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