US should abandon zero-sum mentality
AN article recently published in Foreign Policy bluntly stated that the rise of China is a zero-sum game and not a win-win for both China and the US.
These remarks may resonate with many Americans.
It is natural to see the US, which is used to being No.1 in the world, feel uncomfortable and even uneasy about China’s rise. But they should first realize that the rise of China is inevitable as long as China can maintain a peaceful development environment. In this sense, the most effective way for the US to contain its development is to damage the peaceful environment in China and bring it into chaos.
But if it really does so, the risk it has to shoulder will be much larger than if it accepts China’s rise as a natural trend without resisting it. A chaotic China will bring only harm to the following generations of Americans. And the US should be clear that China is not easily brought to chaos, despite the Internet being full of diverse opinions and mass incidents continually happening in China. Memories of turmoil are still fresh in Chinese people’s minds. For a very long time, maintaining unity and stability will continue to be the overriding wish of Chinese society.
It is very possible for the US to share the rise of China, which in truth might not really bring an absolute win-win situation. But it will not be a zero-sum game either, unless both China and the US desperately want to go back to the 20th century.
The world has moved on from the age of empires. The rise of China is not a sinister national political goal. Rather, it is the natural international political consequence of the Chinese people’s desire to live a good life of dignity. At least, for a considerable time, Chinese people will have no interest in using their national power to do what previous empires did. The direction of China’s rise is not the pursuit of world hegemony.
Furthermore, Chinese people sincerely hope that China’s rise will benefit the entire world. They don’t want to hoard the fruits of development. They are very willing to share their benefits with neighboring countries, including the US. And China is doing just that.
China and the US are growing increasingly interdependent, both economically and culturally. The facts show that, as some experts from both countries hold, the two countries are actually entering a positive- sum game, as long as the US does not escalate its containment policy in treating China as a rising threat.
It is not easy to walk out of the shadow of the geopolitical competition of the past. But globalization is profoundly changing the rules and nature of competition between nations, which will accelerate with time. Americans should not keep their old mindset in a new age. They should keep pace with the times, as the Chinese always say.