A number of political analysts have recently stated that they do not believe that America’s conflict with China need be an ideological one or that guarding the West’s interests need not imply an ideological battle. With respect, this is a baffling argument, since the foundation of America’s battle with Beijing is indeed ideological. It is a battle between democracy and autocracy, market capitalism versus state capitalism, the right to free speech versus active persecution of dissent, and so much more.
Some analysts contend that America and the West have spent decades objecting to Beijing on ideological grounds and claim that it go us nowhere, but that is not true. China would likely never have opened up to the West politically, economically, or diplomatically the way that it has since the 1970s without Western engagement. The issue now is that America and the rest of the world have unleashed a dragon in the process. Nixon and Kissinger believed that Beijing would ultimately liberalise politically as a result. We now know that was never going to happen.
Not since the modern liberal order was born in the 1940s has the world had to grapple with the possibility of its demise—and at the hands of an authoritarian communist state. Just at a time when the world is in need of the stability and good governance it has had the luxury of relying upon for decades, it must contemplate transitioning to a world order not of the West’s choosing. Nor has America had to contend with a rival on roughly equal terms. The Soviet Union was never America’s equal, but China is fast becoming one. China has grown to become so powerful in so many arenas that Washington is being forced to address that reality for the first time.Read more…
