Hegemonic practices of US will finally lead to failure
By Zhong Sheng
There’s a proverb in the western world that self-knowledge is the most
valuable knowledge. However, some US politicians, who are just not able to have
a clear knowledge of themselves and the global situation, are still stubbornly following
the outdated hegemonic approach.
With the strategy of “America first”, these US politicians have never
cared about the interests of other countries or the common welfare of global
citizens.
They started the trade war under the excuse that the US is losing in
its trade with China, but keep silent about the huge profits they have gained
from the relationship. They make frequent statements that other countries have
posed threat on US national security, but turn mute on their globally-reaching
intelligence network. They strongly criticize international organizations such
as the WTO, but make no mention of the fact that the US is a major founder and
the largest beneficiary of the current global governance system.
White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro even said
bluntly that other countries dare not to take retaliatory measures against the
US because of the great power of the latter. Such arrogance revealed what truly
lies under the slogan of “Make America great again”.
The bullying and arbitrary practices of the US are supported by the
hegemonic logic of the country that US rules apply to the whole world and other
countries must compromise to ensure US interests.
From the “economic aggression” theory by US Vice President Mike Pence,
to the fallacy made by Navarro that Chinese commodities are mortgaging America’s
future, and to the statement of former White House Chief Strategist Stephen
Bannon that exporting of Chinese excess capacity gutted the upper Midwest of
the United States, these US politicians take normal economic exchanges as “nails”
and wish to hammer them. They are not willing to see the Chinese people live in
a well-off society just like Americans do.
Under the banner of “America first”, some US politicians just cannot
keep a lid on their impulses and even started attacking their allies. Not long
ago, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel expressed her views on the cracking
foundation of the post-World War II order and the deterioration of
trans-Atlantic ties. The US is becoming a rival of global countries.
Why the US politicians are still dreaming about the “chosen nation”
and “shining city upon a hill”? It’s because they still believe in the old
philosophy that might is right, and perceives the world with a “law-of-the-jungle”
mentality. Besides, they are taking international relations as a “clash of
civilizations”.
This explains why the US government always calls itself a monitor of
global orders and a judge of international relations.
With the irreversible trend of today’s multi-polarization, economic globalization,
cultural diversification and social informatization, the US is still
considering itself a savior of the world and taking the globe as its “backyard
garden” where it can act arbitrarily and do everything it wants to. It is even
making attempts to stop the building of a community with a shared future with
the so-called “America first” policy.
At present, the US hegemony has aroused anger from across the world. Even
some US enterprises are making adjustments in reaction to the pressure from the
US government. A series of “made-in-America” companies including Harley-Davidson,
Inc., have “escaped” from the US, and Exxon Mobil Corporation and Tesla are
also building factories in China.
However, the US hegemony is nothing but a wishful thinking. According
to American scholar Stephen Roach, the US had merchandise trade deficits with
102 countries in 2018, which reflected the extreme insufficiency of the country’s
domestic savings – a situation caused by the rash approvals of budget deficit
made by the congress and decision makers.
Some scholars attributed the inequality in the US to its wrong
policies, rather than economic globalization. Unfortunately, some US
politicians made wrong prescriptions, and called other countries a barrier on
the way to “make America great again”.
Blaming the others for its own mistakes, the US will miss the
opportunity for self-improvement and hurt the country and people via the
diversion of domestic contradictions.
US scholar Robert Kagan argues that America’s decline is being
actively willed by unnamed “politicians and policymakers”, and they are “in
danger of committing pre-emptive superpower suicide out of a misplaced fear of
declining power”.
No country in the world is willing to be manipulated by other
countries in human history. Mutual respect, sincere cooperation and win-win
benefits should be the principle held by each country when it comes to
international relations.
Of course, it’s not easy for the arrogant US politicians to be aware
of this. The bright side is that facts don’t lie and speak louder than words.
There is an idiom in China that ultimate power incurs humiliation. Any
country that deviates from the path of win-win cooperation and sticks to
zero-sum games, disobeys rules for fair competition and pressures others, and
goes against the trend of economic globalization and resorts to conservatism
will end up losing.
Hegemony will only consume the power of a nation and accelerate the
process of its recession. Such cases are just prevalent in history.
(Zhong
Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views on
foreign policy.)
Hegemonic practices of US will finally lead to failure
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