We Chinese once sought to learn from US successes; now we
study its mistakes so that we can avoid them.
Wang Wen
My generation of Chinese looked up to the United
States.
When I was a university student in northwestern China in the
late 1990s, my friends and I tuned in to shortwave broadcasts of Voice of
America, polishing our English while soaking up American and world news. We
flocked to packed lecture halls whenever a visiting American professor was on
campus.
It was a thrilling time. China was emerging from
isolationism and poverty, and as we looked to the future we studied democracy,
market economics, equality and other ideals that made America great. We
couldn’t realistically adopt them all because of China’s conditions, but our
lives were transformed as we recalibrated our economy on a US blueprint.
Decades earlier, a reform-minded scholar said that even the
moon in the United States was rounder than in China. My schoolmates and I
wanted to believe it.
But after years of watching America’s wars overseas,
reckless economic policies and destructive partisanship — culminating in last
year’s disgraceful assault on the US Capitol — many Chinese, including me,
can barely make out that shining beacon anymore.
Yet as relations between our countries deteriorate, the
United States blames us. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did so in May,
saying that China was “undermining” the rules-based world order and could not
be relied upon to “change its trajectory”.
I have misgivings about some of my country’s policies. And I
recognise that some criticisms of my government’s policies are justified. But
Americans must also recognise that US behaviour is hardly setting a good
example.
The shift in Chinese attitudes wasn’t a given. But when
US-led NATO forces mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia,
in 1999 during the Kosovo war, our idolising of America began to wane. Three
people were killed in that attack, and 20 were wounded. Two years later, a US
spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet collided in the South China Sea, leaving a
Chinese pilot dead. These incidents may have seemed relatively minor to
Americans, but they shocked us. We had largely avoided foreign wars and were
not used to our citizens dying in conflicts involving other countries. The
shift in perception gained pace as the 2000s unfolded and more Chinese had
televisions. We watched as the carnage of America’s disastrous involvement in
Iraq, launched in 2003 on false pretences, was beamed into our homes.
In 2008, China had to defend itself against the consequences
of American greed when the US subprime lending fiasco touched off the global
financial crisis. China was forced to create a huge stimulus package, but our
economy still suffered great damage. Millions of Chinese lost their jobs.
Following his predecessors, President Barack Obama announced
a string of weapon sales to Taiwan and embarked on his so-called pivot to Asia,
which we regarded as an attempt to rally our Asian neighbours against us.
President Donald Trump declared a destructive trade war against us, and Chinese
citizens were as shocked as anyone when a pro-Trump mob stormed the citadel of
American democracy on Jan 6, 2021. The visit to Taiwan last week by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has only further disappointed many Chinese, who saw it as
a violation of US commitments on Taiwan.
China’s critics in the United States need to realise that
American actions such as these are causing outcomes in China that even the
United States doesn’t want.
It’s no accident that China’s military spending — a source
of concern in Washington for years — began rising in the early 2000s after the
Belgrade bombing and the plane collision. It quickly took off after the war in
Iraq showcased how far ahead the US military was compared with ours. China’s
past weakness had been calamitous: Western powers attacked and forced China to
surrender territory in the 1800s, and Japan’s brutal invasion in the 20th
century killed millions.
US officials no doubt want China to follow the American path
of liberalism. But in contrast to my university days, the tone of Chinese
academic research on the United States has shifted markedly. Chinese government
officials used to consult me on the benefits of American capital markets and
other economic concepts. Now I am called upon to discuss US cautionary tales,
such as the factors that led to the financial crisis. We once sought to learn
from US successes; now we study its mistakes so that we can avoid them.
The sense of America as a dangerous force in the world has
filtered into Chinese public attitudes as well. In 2020 I remarked on a Chinese
television programme that we still have much to learn from the United States —
and was attacked on Chinese social media. I stick to my view but am now more
careful in talking positively about the United States. When I do, I preface it
with a criticism.
Chinese students still want to study at US universities but
are acutely fearful of American gun violence, anti-Asian attacks or being
labelled a spy. They are sent off with ominous advice: Don’t stray from campus,
watch what you say, back away from conflict.
And despite Chinese weariness with our country’s tough
zero-Covid policy, America’s dismal record on the pandemic has only
strengthened Chinese public support for our government.
To be clear: China needs to change, too. It needs to be more
open to dialogue with the United States, refrain from using US problems as an
excuse to go slow on reform and respond more calmly and constructively to
American criticism on things like trade policy and human rights.
But although we don’t enjoy the same rights as Americans,
many in China like where we are right now.
In the late 1970s, China was exhausted and traumatised from
the destruction and hardship caused by the Cultural Revolution, which nearly
destroyed us. Deng Xiaoping initiated reforms that brought stability and helped
lift 800 million people out of poverty. We have achieved spectacular increases
in income and life expectancy and stayed out of foreign wars. Tough firearm
regulations allow us to walk down any street in the country at night with
virtually no fear of harm. When we look at America’s enormous pandemic toll,
gun violence, political divisions and the attack on the US Capitol, it only
reminds Chinese people of our own chaotic past that we have left behind.
None of this is meant to gloat over America’s troubles; a
strong, stable and responsible United States is good for the world. China still
has much to learn from America, and we have a lot in common. We drive
Chinese-built Fords and Teslas, wash our hair with Procter & Gamble
shampoos and sip coffee at Starbucks. Solving some of the planet’s biggest
problems requires that we work together.
But that doesn’t mean following America over the cliff.
NYTIMES
Wang Wen (@WangwenR) is the executive dean of the Chongyang
Institute for Financial Studies, a think tank at Renmin University of China. He
is the author of “A Great Power’s Long March”, an analysis of China’s
re-emergence as a global power. He is a Communist Party member and a former
chief opinion editor of The Global Times, an arm of the official Communist
Party newspaper, The People’s Daily.
