The Ivory Tower and the Marble Citadel: Essays on Political Philosophy in Our Modern Era of Interacting Cultures

13. Rethinking U.S.-Chinese Relations (2007)

Chapter XIII h Rethinking U.S.-Chinese Relations (2007) Many today pondering U.S.-Chinese relations worry about problems that in fact are probably manageable, such as the trade deficit, intellectual property, the continuing tension between Beijing and Taipei, balance in the relations between the U.S., Japan, and China, peace on the Korean peninsula, and respect for international law in the ocean area off China’s south-east coast. The serious problem, however, is lack of that strong sense of shared interests and mutual understanding which will be needed to discuss the really major conflicts of interest now on the horizon, such as competition over acquisition of fossil fuels, military measures in outer space, prevention of the proliferation of WMDs in the Third World, and ecology. It is hard to see how the U.S. and China will be able to address such problems peacefully, not to mention with the needed positive spirit of cooperation, unless these two nations figure out how to discard their current, mutual, deep-rooted ideological alienation. Just how important it is for the U.S. to try to discard it becomes clearer if one agrees that discarding it is one of the more feasible steps that can now be taken to deal with the whole variety of problems currently threatening our national well-being. I begin with the premise that not only our nation’s well-being but also that of the world depend on the maintenance of that international military, economic, and diplomatic network of power now centered in the U.S. Contrary to Patrick J. Buchanan, whom I otherwise much admire, the U.S. exists in a world of societies that are interdependent to a large extent and so cannot thrive if there is no system of international order containing humanity’s 718 The Ivory Tower and the Marble Citadel innumerable chaotic impulses. Moreover, throughout much of the world, including China, many people not only want such a stable world order but also recognize that the leading role of the U.S. is indispensable to it. The ability of the U.S. to play this role, however, has now been weakened. As political leaders around the world witnessed the military failure of the U.S. and its allies in Iraq, the enervation of the U.S. Army there, and the lack of strong popular support in the U.S. for its military effort there, they could not but doubt that the U.S. could soon again go to war to back up its commitments abroad. Because of Iraq, therefore, the credibility of U.S. military power has declined in the Pacific, not only in the Middle East. Simultaneously, European prejudices against the U.S. have been revived, and the U.S. as well as its allies have fallen into a new dilemma, namely, the way that a liberal society based on the strictly legalistic interpretation of individual rights is frighteningly vulnerable to the terroristic tactics of fanatical Muslims likely soon to be armed with MVDs and free to manipulate this legal system. Our problem with China has to be put into the context of this decline in U.S. military credibility and the increasing hostility to the U.S. throughout much of the world. What is important about this context of problems is that many of them are rather intractable. Just because they are, the need to strengthen our international position by improving our relation with China is particularly urgent. To be sure, one cause for the weakening of our international position is not intractable. Today almost no one denies that serious mistakes made by the Bush administration in Iraq after it overthrew Saddam Hussein’s government were a major cause for this weakening. Better leadership may emerge in 2008. Another problem, however, has proved to be intractable. Many still deny that the rising tide of anti-U.S. sentiment around the world has been partly caused by U.S. support for Israel’s ruthless colonization of the West Bank. Indeed, when former president Jimmy Carter pointed to this problem, this disciple of Hyman Rickover was viciously attacked as an anti-Semite. Yet many Jews, including me and not a few of Israel’s citizens, share Carter’s perspective. In our eyes, it is desirable for the U.S. to support policies vital to Israel’s security, such as Israel’s monopoly over 13. Rethinking U.S.-Chinese Relations 719...