point of view on US and China relationship:

[A_Y]

American Expatriate who has living in Hong Kong for 25 years: point of view on US and China relationship:

Xi’s speech today should be quite reassuring to the US’s ongoing relationship to China. Much of what is said in the US about China is done so for US-domestic purposes. “Containing China” is one of the very few issues that Democrats and Republicans can agree on today. As to HK, I doubt that many US politicians even fully understand HK’s history. Instead, HK simply serves as a political issue to use as a symbol of “political freedom”. There is a certain kind of self-righteousness that the US projects. HK has always been Chinese. It has never been ‘independent’ or a sovereign state. In 1997, it was acknowledged that HK was returning to China and the 50-year handover period was to provide a transition period for both HK and the PRC. But, the keyword is ‘return’. But, the US press and gov’t speaks as if HK was not and never was part of China – for its own internal political purposes.

Yes, China has issues concerning its behaviour toward the Uighurs and the Tibetans. But, the US has had similar issues with its historical treatment of Native Americans and its historical (and present) treatment of Blacks – treatment both political as well as personal, i.e. on a human to human basis.

The US is culturally very different from that of China. Chinese are largely racially homogeneous while the US is the opposite. That difference is reflected in the respective government of each, both in its structure as well as in operation. The US system can look like a “mess” to the PRC just as the government in Beijing can look like a “tyranny” to the average US citizen. The US cultural history is very different from that of CN and vice-versa. In China, laws are written very generally, to be made more specific depending on the situation and its political context whereas in the US, laws are written very specifically. This is another large difference.

Yet, with all these differences, China is not regarded in the US with the same deep degree of distrust / suspicion / fear as is Russia. And with all the differences, Chinese individuals themselves have made a large contribution to the US and have generated a great deal of respect and good will. Consider the contributions that Chinese immigrants and their children have made and are making today in science, medicine, education, business and research. Contrast those contribution to those of Russians. There is absolutely no comparison.

I think that Joe Biden got it fairly correct when he said that the US relationship with China is one of “strategic competition”. I do not see armed hostilities between the two nations regardless of language which flies back and forth “diplomatically”. In the West, a lot of this language is for domestic purposes.

I think this augurs well for future stable relationship between the US and China. The only truly worrying aspect to me is the relation concerning Taiwan. This is a three part dynamic that can’t go on forever. I believe that China may posture but also can afford to be patient – it’s in their nature as well as in their history. Taiwan can accept the stalemate as long as it has the US backing. But, what about the US?