China gains when it prevents new Cold War

Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said on Wednesday that “we must be alert that some destructive forces are taking advantage of the ongoing trade frictions. Extreme rhetoric, such as decoupling, a new Cold War, and clash of civilizations, are having their way here.” Cui also said that some American people are “pointing fingers at the governing party and national system of China.” “They are trying to rebuild the Berlin Wall between China and the US in the economic, technological and ideological fields,” he said.

Indeed, China-US relations are at an unprecedented crossroads, and some American people have shown their strong intentions to ruin the constructive relations. But they should know that this will be difficult. It is a challenging task for China to influence future China-US interactions and stop such people from dragging the two countries into a new Cold War.

First, we should be aware of the relevant fields and intensity of the current China-US disputes. By far, the strongest US attacks have been in economic and ideological fields. Militarily, the US has sped up its development and deployment of high-tech equipment, strengthened the construction of its base networks around China and increased the frequency of its so-called freedom of navigation in China’s adjacent seas.

These moves have greatly altered China-US relations and have allowed a tense atmosphere to pervade the two countries. But these acts are more likely to build momentum for Washington itself. The US elite have reached a broad consensus to treat China harshly, but they have not made their purposes clear. The US has not decided whether to use the trade war to gain increased profits or take China down strategically.

The US-Soviet Union Cold War did not start overnight. Instead, both sides continued to raise the stakes and eventually the situation became irreversible. The situation between China and the US is fundamentally different to that of the Cold War, which may stop China-US relations from entering a downward spiral.

As long as China adopts a proper strategy of maneuvering around US provocation, it can maintain its core interests and defeat any attempts to launch a new Cold War.

This will require China to show strategic focus and remain confident in the face of US provocation. We need a firm response to US provocation, and we should also avoid hyping the disputes to overall significance.

We do not need to compete with the US tough attitude. China should be proud of surpassing the US in tenacity, strategy and maneuverability. As long as China stops a new Cold War from occurring and maintains its strong momentum in national development, it will gain the final advantage.