In a speech last Friday to the Munich Security Conference, Joe Biden declared that “America is back.” The US, he said, “is determined to reengage with Europe, to consult with you, to earn back our position of trusted leadership.” He had me until that last phrase. Imagine you’re in a partnership. You’re a bit more junior, your partner is a bit more senior. You work together constantly and, despite the occasional squabble, do better together than you would apart. Then the senior partner starts to behave in erratic, dangerous, and borderline psychotic, ways. He not only ceases work on important joint projects; he actively sabotages them. He threatens you and calls you an enemy.
I'll be blunt: China may be at the "same stage of development" as Turkey, Indian and Mexico in some ways, but in many other ways it's not. China is a rich country, with massive resources, and it pushes an ideology antithetical to liberalism. It is, in short, quite different than all the other countries you listed, and we should not let some economic metrics blind us to that reality.
China certainly sees itself in a competition with the United States, and we should not pretend that we're not in a big power competition to focus on issues of mutual benefit. The reality is: the USSR and the US cooperated where it made sense, and we can do the same with China while also working to create a united front.
I'll be blunt: China may be at the "same stage of development" as Turkey, Indian and Mexico in some ways, but in many other ways it's not. China is a rich country, with massive resources, and it pushes an ideology antithetical to liberalism. It is, in short, quite different than all the other countries you listed, and we should not let some economic metrics blind us to that reality.
China certainly sees itself in a competition with the United States, and we should not pretend that we're not in a big power competition to focus on issues of mutual benefit. The reality is: the USSR and the US cooperated where it made sense, and we can do the same with China while also working to create a united front.