Time for US to stop blaming China for its own mess
AT A time when Washington politicians tend to blindly blame China for almost everything they mess up, former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich at least seems to remain a bit sensible.
“Some of the greatest failures and weaknesses in America can’t be blamed on China,” Gingrich wrote in his new book titled Trump vs China:
Facing America’s Greatest Threat, citing examples in such fields as education, military, aerospace and 5G technologies.
For some time, instead of being self-reflective, some US politicians have grown increasingly used to pointing an accusing finger at China, alleging that China is taking advantage of the US and therefore is the cause of America’s sky-rocketing trade deficits or the millions of manufacturing jobs shipped overseas. Gingrich, of course, is not the first to have the guts or wisdom to tell some truth.
Economists around the globe generally agree that most of the losses in US manufacturing jobs over the past several decades were due to the globalised supply chains and new technological advancements such as automation, and had little to do with hard-working Chinese workers.
In addition, several major European countries disagree with Washington on its ill-founded and ill-intentioned ban against Chinese tech company Huawei. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has firmly stated that Huawei technology would not be excluded from her country’s 5G competition.
“It is not China’s fault that the old, bureaucratic, entrenched American telecommunications companies failed to develop a global strategy for 5G over the 11 years that the Chinese company Huawei has been working to become a world leader,” Gingrich wrote.
To cure America’s illnesses, decision-makers in Washington needed to wean themselves off comforting lies and face up to unpleasant truths.
One lesson was that Beltway politicians needed to have the guts to do some serious soul-searching, and start to look at the real reasons for all kinds of social and economic woes plaguing the US and launch necessary reforms.
Another reminder was that those China hardliners need to read China’s development with objectivity and rationality.
If they did so, they would find that a stable and prosperous China fitted well with Washington’s long-term interests in a world of growing interconnectivity and interdependence.
“We have to look at ourselves and our own mistakes and failures.
“The burden on us to modernise and reform our own system is enormous,” Gingrich wrote.
The burden of reforming the American system may be enormous, yet the prize of restoring a truth-based mindset would be even bigger. |