Opinion | Unshackle Europe from American foolishness
By Philip Yeung, university teacher
PKY480@gmail.com
Europe's relations with China have been hijacked by America's Sino-phobia. For decades, Europe has been handcuffed to America's global agenda, often against its own interests. It behaves more like a US surrogate. Trump makes no bones that America comes first. Europe is just an afterthought. He might even disband NATO altogether, and pursue his separate peace with Russia. Trump is practically living in Putin's pocket.
Now, a second Trump presidency looms, as polls suggest. Americans recoil at Biden's visible mental decline. This young nation loathes the doddering elderly, even more than it loathes idiocy. But Biden has a chokehold on the Democratic nomination. Barring an accident, there will be a grudge rematch between two geriatric contenders, with Trump getting the last laugh.
If Trump wins, Europe will face Russia all alone. With another war raging in Gaza, Western countries are dangerously distracted. A Trump presidency will deliver Ukraine to Russia.
What then are the EU's options? China. Look no further than this purpose-driven, peace-loving partner. Before Trump, the two sides were teasing in a not-so-secret affair. But US warped thinking has abruptly ended the blossoming romance. Europe now teeters over "de-risking" with China, even though its hyped strategic threat is hollow and hypothetical.
True to its Confucian roots, China is a bona fide peace-maker, campaigning for the protection of civilians in Gaza. The US, by contrast, is aiding and abetting Israeli's indiscriminate slaughter of thousands of innocent women and children. Time to cut out the nonsense about China's "genocidal" treatment of Uyghurs. In the history of the human race, have you ever heard of a government offering its minorities a slew of preferential treatments in education and welfare only to be accused of persecuting them? Affirmative action and genocide don't go together, whatever your warped logic.
Europe's perception of China is colored by trouble over Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang---all domestic, all foreign-fomented, thanks to American demonization. Why should the EU get sucked into a nasty civil war over Taiwan? The guns are not yet silent over Ukraine. Who needs another war?
China has no quarrel with the EU. In fact, their interests overlap. Over 20% of EU imports come from China and 9% of its exports are PRC-destined. Daily trade between them exceeds 2.7 billion US dollars. Security concerns are just US-manufactured nonsense. China may be a competitor, but not a strategic rival.
The Vice President of the European Commission is right: the world's problems cannot be solved without China. The US-induced weaponization of technology and trade does not serve the EU's interests. How can a nation that has lifted 800 million out of grinding poverty be evil? It is China's greatest triumph, unequaled in human history. This is a nation at peace, and busy with its miracle-making. Are EU leaders shrewd enough to see through the wicked US sabotage, and rekindle its old romance?
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has affected European attitudes towards China. There is a psychological transference at play: vulnerable EU members, alarmed by the Russian threat at their borders begin to mistakenly see China as another Russia. Little Lithuania rushed in where angels fear to tread, needlessly provoking China over Taiwan, though it is as far away as the South Pole. It is an act of sheer idiocy and a disastrous misreading of Chinese intentions.
The choice before EU politicians is clear: choose cooperation or confrontation. Don't go looking for trouble. China is not your enemy and never has been. They have no business dragging their members into a fight that does not threaten their core interests.
Ask yourself: Who are the world's troublemakers today? Not China. A model UN member, the only troops it sends overseas are peace-keepers. If every nation behaves China-like, wars would be obsolete. The accusation that China disrupts the rules-based international order is an American projection. The accused has become the accuser. China has zero territorial or imperial ambitions, though it will fight tooth and nail to protect the vital sea lanes in the South China Sea, just as America would to keep its Florida coast safe.
Respected, China purrs like a cat. Provoked, it snarls like a tiger. China has no use for bullies. Watch what China does, not what America says it might do. You don't need a 20/20 vision to see that China is a victim of US propaganda. If Europe still sees China as a belligerent bully, it is either wilfully or legally blind.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | What's wrong with Chinese education?
Opinion | Gordon G. Chang: A China-hater, a self-hater and a fear-monger
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