Diplomacy needed to overcome mistrust
Douglas Paal, a former US diplomat and a distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, addressed the West’s accusations against the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He called for diplomacy and mutual understanding in an era where US-China relations are often characterized by tension and mistrust.
Paal suggested that the “debt trap” narrative concerning the BRI has proved to be an overstatement and mischaracterization. He acknowledged that the US takes significant responsibility for the debt problems faced by many countries, as do other major developed countries with their credit policies toward less developed nations. “I think we’ve all gotten smarter over time, but sometimes you have to make a mistake before you can correct it,” Paal said.
As to whether the BRI is a competition between China and the US, Paal said it should not have been structured that way. He urged the US to join the BRI, even if the US would not contribute capital. It could still contribute significantly to financial arrangements, environmental impact assessments, and scientific work, where knowledge and the power of knowledge can be leveraged to make BRI activities more successful, he said.
Discussing the differences in the US approach toward China across recent administrations, Paal highlighted a negative feeling toward China that really picked up during the Trump administration. Donald Trump was frustrated for a variety of reasons and sought to take advantage of a strong anti-China posture, Paal said.
He said that people in the US who try to explain what is happening in China are often seen as apologizing for China rather than simply explaining the situation. Paal said he strives to stay on the side of explaining, not apologizing for China, and struck a note of cautious optimism.
“We don’t have borders next to each other. We don’t have intrusions into each other’s territory. We ought to be able to find ways of managing those areas where we have differences so that we don’t feel that our survival is at stake,” Paal said.