US hard to compete with China due to systemic woes
The catchwords for current US politicians center around a “fierce competition” they have launched to win over China in order to maintain America’s mega superpower status. Recently, the US Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee passed the so- called Strategic Competition Act of 2021, to sharpen the US government’s focus on impeding China’s economic and advanced technology ambitions, and the draft bill is expected to be approved by the full US Senate.
However, the US is not always having the whip hand in this competition. China owns peculiar competitive advantages in population size, market scale, entrepreneurial spirit and efficiency, societal equity, public- private
“dual- track” partnership, scientific decision- making culture, and distinct implemental fast- track.
The US strategic competition act of 2021, which has overwhelming bipartisan support in its Congress, is “to finally meet the China challenge across every dimension of power, political, diplomatic, economic, innovation, military and even culture”, said Bob Menendez, a writer of the bill and chairman of the US Senate’s foreign affairs panel. A browse of the bill finds it, egregiously, contains millions of dollars of US investments annually before 2026, to sponsor anti- China propaganda or disinformation drive by US domestic and foreign media organizations.
The international mass media platform is English- centric and has been dominated by the Western countries headed by the US for many years.
Bogus issues made up by them against China like “forced labor” in Xinjiang and “suppression of human rights” in Hong Kong are futile to curtail China’s growth, and the Western media’s bashing- China narratives cannot obscure the increasingly illuminating fact that China is endowed to prevail in this “contest of the century”.
First, China’s 1.4 billion people offer the condition for building up the world’s largest consumption market, which is envied by all the multinational CEOs and their product and service sellers. The ASEAN and EU are China’s top two trade partners – just ask them how important China’s market scale means to them.
Second, the Chinese government has pursued a vibrant economic combination of the state, the public and the private forces.
State- ownership of major public utilities and services, like supplies of electricity, tap water, cooking gas, telecom and medical care services and their fair fee charges, is a key means of maintaining China as a fair and equitable society.
The strange happenings in the US – including the eye- popping chargers faced by consumers for electricity, gas and water in Texas two months ago when it was battered by a snow blizzard causing a days- long power outage, are often scoffed at on Chinese social media.
And, the last but not the least, China’s governmental system has obvious advantages over the US’ two- party partisan regime. As displayed by Beijing’s decisive mandate to impose a blanket lockdown in early 2020 to stifle the spreading of the novel coronavirus in central Hubei Province, China’s system shines in decision- making efficiency, and after a decision is made, the whole country will take notice, and move quickly on its implementation. songlin@ globaltimes. com. cn