‘Bannons’ of the world upset Sino-US ties
According to Breitbart news, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said over the weekend in Tokyo that the US and East Asian allies must unify to constrain China’s “frightening,” “audacious” and “global” ambitions. He said until Donald Trump became president, the US was a mere tributary state to China, and Washington and its allies need to enter the “valley of decision” to confront China’s ascendance and growing hegemony. He alluded to the appeasement of Nazi Germany last century and warned of the dangers of appeasing China.
Bannon’s views are in line with white supremacists and he is a fanatical populist against globalization. What’s worse, with no experience in international relations, he looks at the world of the 21st century through the lens of the Cold War and with radical nationalism. His influence, endowed by the US political shift, seems to pose a threat to China-US relations, the world’s most important bilateral relationship.
Bannon’s siren call to constrain China is poisoning US society’s understanding of relations between the two powers, making him a cancer cell that could destroy constructive international relations in the 21st century. Fortunately China-US ties and international relations in their entirety are winning out in their resistance against the law of jungle. Yet the trend is needlessly being walked back by some evil forces led by people like Bannon.
Bannon’s strong calls for containing China through strengthened geopolitical alliances reveal the typical strategic mindset that led to international relations catastrophes in the last century. The world in the new century can’t allow itself to follow his calling.
The essence of China’s rise is that the world’s most populous country has found a suitable and stable path of development. As long as the world remains peaceful, China will narrow its gap with and overtake the US in terms of economic size. If the Bannons of the world are determined to hold back China’s rise, they are very likely to push China and the US into a military confrontation.
The China-US relationship has walked a different path from that of the US and the Soviet Union thanks to decades of effort by elites and the peoples of the two nations. It is an important asset of humanity that can’t be misguided by Bannon’s posturing.
Bannon’s mild remarks in favor of China-US cooperation in September in Hong Kong astonished many. But he switched to harsher words last month and in his latest speech. He behaves in such a capricious manner probably to cater to different audiences from which he can reap benefits.
Fortunately Bannon was fired from the White House within a year of being appointed to his position. Making speeches everywhere, he may just want to bluff and bluster. But his extremely conservative thinking has not been wiped out of the White House, and still has many advocates among US elites. We need to be fully prepared for a long struggle against the “Bannons.” China needs to prove with its strength that what they want for China will in no way become reality.