By Philip Yeung
Hate is not a strategy
Little Marco has made it big, leaping from senator to Secretary of State. But he is singularly unprepared for the job, He brings with him nothing but ignorance and bias, China-wise. Rage is not a qualification. And confrontation is counterproductive. Awkwardly, he is the first top US diplomat to wear China's sanction on his forehead.
How will he conduct diplomacy as a pariah? His first phone call to his Chinese counterpart was an embarrassment, with Wang Yi telling him to "behave himself". Rubio's next tiresome move was to corral his Quad peers from India, Japan, and Australia to tighten the China encirclement. He is a prisoner of his own preconceptions.
China sends a subtle signal: Rubio's Chinese name has been changed slightly, mirroring a slight attitudinal change. As China always says, there is nothing trivial in diplomacy.
Rubio's steep learning curve
Rubio is no seasoned diplomat. His learning curve is steep. As a one-dimensional China hawk, he has much to unload and unlearn. He can't bluff his way through the next four years.
His China bias has dangerous blind spots. He is too busy vilifying China to see the country for what it is. He should embrace the golden rule in politics: "Know thy adversary". I offer this history lesson for his benefit.
A history lesson for the top US diplomat
During the Boxer rebellion foreign soldiers stormed into Peking only to see a city populated by beggar-like figures, smelly and shabby, living a dog's life. It was a nation on its last legs.
Next, came the Japanese insult, slapping the label "the Sick man of East Asia" on the Chinese. At the mercy of foraging foreign powers, Shanghai was carved into foreign quarters. Humiliation was seared into the Chinese soul. That's why, the cornerstone of China's contemporary foreign policy is down to three words: "No more humiliations".
China's quantum leap
China had hit rock bottom.
But 75 years later, a jaw-dropping quantum leap in history came over China.
Fast forward to 2025. Chinese-owned TikTok boasts over 170 million followers in America. On the day of Trump's second inauguration, China-invented DeepSeek gatecrashed Wall Street, wiping out one trillion dollars in market cap, knocking American tech giants off balance.
From bottom of the barrel, the Chinese have leapfrogged to become confident futurists. China has found its footing.
The aggressive gene is missing in the Chinese
Is China a threat to the US? Only if they are afraid of fair competition. Rubio should know that the aggressive gene is absent in the Chinese body.
The militarization of the South China Sea islands serves only one purpose: to protect the free flow of life-giving commerce through the vital sea lanes. Over the last century, as a military midget, one-third of China's territory was gobbled up by foreign predators. Taiwan is off-limits, a kiss of death for any foreign interventionist.
America's 7 sins in dealing with China
America is guilty of seven sins in dealing with China. China is more sinned against than sinning.
First, projection. China harbors no imperial ambition, with no appetite for territorial expansion or world domination. There is no Greenland on its radar.
Second, bullying. America's sanctions and tariffs are a form of bullying, but tariffs are a double-edged sword, hurting US consumers in the pocket. Sanctions only push China into technological self-inventiveness, as DeepSeek shows.
Third, racism. Rubio's anti-Chinese animosity has a racist undercurrent. Rubio has baited China by saying it is more dangerous than the Soviets, even though China has never invaded or threatened any country.
Fourth, misreading Chinese patriotism. Chinese citizens are at one with their government. If you vilify the government, you vilify the people. There are no oppressed people itching to be unshackled.
Fifth, an outdated view of China. China is a work in progress. It is a leapfrog nation, unrecognizable from its Cultural Revolution days. Ideology no longer dictates the national agenda. Rubio is jealous about China's rags-to-riches miracle. Unlike the USSR, China has transformed itself root-and-branch: across its economy, education, the military and technology.
Sixth, double standards. Leave your double standards at home. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. You should judge China the way you judge Israel. America ignited multiple wars that took the lives of millions of innocent civilians. China only sends UN peacekeepers and engineers for its Belt and Road projects. China plays by international rules. America tramples them, leaving the rule-based international order in tatters. Before pointing your finger at China, first look in the mirror.
Seventh, falsehoods. Forget the nonsense about Xinjiang. There is no genocide, slave labor or persecution. How do I know? Simple. If China is guilty of the above, you must first explain why official policies favor Uyghurs. They were exempted from China's draconian one-child policy. Second, minorities are admitted to higher education with lower entrance requirements. Third, Uyghurs enjoy special street-hawking rights across China. What genocidal government would do this? I don't see Israel doing this for Gazans. Independent auditors hired by garment manufacturers to investigate so-called forced labor came up empty. But the lies continue.
From traditionalists to futurists: a tsunami of Chinese revolutions
The old China is dead, thanks to a tsunami of changes. Much of the misunderstanding about China is that people see the country only in the rear mirror. The past is now a foreign country.
A sleeping giant for centuries, China didn't produce a single scientist over 5000 years. Too many moral philosophers have turned the Chinese into the world's greatest "rationalizers". Every adversity was rationalized away, citing the fable: "The frontier old man lost his horse". The "Ah Q loser spirit" was deeply ingrained.
The Chinese yearned for a life of tranquility, not intensity, or living dangerously. They protected their life and limb for their parents' sake. China boasted no Artic explorers or conquerors of Everest, invented no sports. The only game it created was mahjong, designed to be played indoors, to keep the Chinese domesticated. Averse to risky physical behavior, they sublimated their adventurous spirit into high-stakes gambling.
That has changed. A fitness craze sweeps China, showing off their athletic prowess at the Olympics. The medals table has retired its "Sick Man of East Asia" label. This is a 90-degree sea change, the first in two thousand years.
China was once "a pan of loose sand", without any sense of nationhood. First loyalties were to clans. This feudal attitude is gone. The Chinese are now citizens first, and clan members second. China has one feature that outperforms all Western nations: its collective power in the speed and scale in building infrastructure and delivering disaster relief is unequaled. What happened in the LA wildfires can never happen in China.
For eons, China was a nation of scholars. Now it pivots towards science and technology, under the slogan "Science for national salvation". TikTok, WeChat, GPS, e-commerce, spacecraft, satellites, high-speed trains and now Deep-Seek. Commerce has opened China up and science has modernized it.
China's old social hierarchy was stacked against the business sector. At the top of the totem pole were scholars. The brightest brains in China were channeled into useless explications of ancient moral texts. They were followed in descending order by peasants and artisans. Bringing up the bottom was the business class whose hands were dirtied by the pursuit of profit. This was a hierarchy guaranteed to produce a stagnant society. I call it the "curse of the classics".
The Chinese were homebodies and in-bred pacificists. To accuse the Chinese of being aggressors is akin to calling Muslims pork eaters. As domesticated creatures, the Chinese don't go around invading other countries. The aggressive gene is absent in the Chinese body.
Still, China's miracle has unnerved the Americans. In over 30 years, China has reinvented itself, becoming an economic powerhouse, lifting 800 million out of poverty. Commerce has reshuffled the deck. In the new social hierarchy, the business class now sits atop the totem pole.
China's next revolution is in education. But old habits die hard. Rote learning is rife, and creativity is stifled. Until now, the Chinese are copycats, not game-changers. AI has rendered regurgitated knowledge obsolete. Students will be weaned off passive book learning. China's future is in the hands of disruptive thinkers.
Will Rubio be a one-trick pony, hobbled by his anti-China hostility?
As for Rubio, will he remain hobbled by his hostility to China, or can he grow into his job as an unblinkered diplomat? Few of Trump's appointees last long. Will Rubio have the shelf-life of a lettuce? If all he offers is his China hate, any simpleton can be secretary of state. It is up to "little Marco" to prove that he is bigger than a one-trick pony. Trump began his second term by befriending the Chinese president. Rubio stumbled off by antagonizing his Chinese counterpart. Is he going to let his corrosive attitude toward China define him and his tenure? Or will he have the courage and common sense to take the relationship to the sunny upland? We don't need four years to find out.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | Trump 2.0: Hopes, fears, and a basket of surprises
Opinion | TikTok runs down the clock
Opinion | Apocalypse comes to America--LA fires make America hot again
Opinion | In the Trump era, how can China disarm Western hostility
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