Friction between China and the United States has gone beyond a healthy rivalry between two top economies, and now spilled into political and military spheres, paving the way for a dysfunctional, bipolar geopolitical world that is hurtling towards Armageddon — a conclusion I reached several years ago, but that came into focus as I was receiving acupuncture treatment for a sore hip last week.
Two Chinese acupuncture sessions, at a total cost of US$150 got rid of the pain, compared to the alternative Western Medicine Surgeries, at a cost of several thousand dollars, hit home how different the cultural practices of America and China are – medically, economically, militarily and politically – locally, regionally and globally!
The terms Democracy versus Autocracy, highlight and capsulize these differences.
American and Chinese political leaders and commentators are engaged in endless international arguments and existential debate about the benefits and superiority of American Democracy and Chinese Autocracy, unfortunately adding fuel to the widening schism and conflagration in US-China relations.
I agree with what Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said while speaking by a video link at the 2021 Aspen Security Forum. “It is vital for the US and China to strive to engage each other to head off a clash which would be disastrous for both sides and the world.”
Instead of pursuing their mutually destructive political agendas that leaves little room for cooperation between the two countries, I would like to propose a solution on how both America and China can accept and respect each other for what they are based on and what they have learned and adopted from each other, so they can cooperate and work together – much like Traditional Chinese Medicine has with Western medicine.
Political systems of both America and China have their positive attributes – and constraints – a subject I have addressed at length in my Custom Maid for New World Disorder books and blogs. Moreover, both systems have a lot of common blended political history on which to build a partnership.
In his political writings, the Greek philosopher Aristotle used terms that were later translated as “freedom” or “liberty” – but for Aristotle, freedom wasn’t for everyone. Only the hereditary patrician class was free.
The idea was parroted by European thinkers from medieval times onward. In that system, a nobleman’s freedom allowed him to use tax money for personal benefit, appoint relatives to office, or order the magistrate to hang the guy who poached rabbits on his estate.
Chinese rulers were familiar with the idea of upholding people’s welfare as a guiding principle, as enshrined in the American constitution, but that was later discarded for its new autocratic model.
Confucius disciple Mencius had developed the political idea of government whereby rulers had to be benevolent and put people’s welfare first, a theory that influenced fathers of the American constitution.
Thomas Jefferson had collected English translations of Mencius’ works along with the original Chinese texts — that can still be seen at his Montecito Library in Virginia. Freedoms mentioned in works of Mencius were freedom from poverty and distress. “Endeavor all you can to render your people happy; take care they are reasonably provided with all necessaries: see that the grounds are cultivated and that plenty reigns.”
Thanks to Mencius, social spending in Imperial China was the norm, in contrast with the austerity measures of European aristocracies of that time. Eventually, in the “Anglosphere,” a group of Englishmen called the Free Thinkers and the likes of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson would echo Mencius, insisting that public policy should be debated according to the facts, and should promote the people’s happiness.
The Free Thinkers had noticed that Chinese “philosophers” could express opinions on government, and even serve as officials. Since many in their circle weren’t noble, they styled themselves philosophers, and quoted Chinese essays to support their arguments.
One of them, Samuel Johnson admired Chinese policy documents where you could “read of emperors who (have) … brought their actions willingly to the test of reason, law, and morality, and scorned to exert their power in defense of that which they could not support by argument.”
What Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence about equality and the purpose of government was nothing new as John Locke and other British and Chinese political thinkers had talked and wrote about people’s rights. What made the Declaration of Independence special is that they were enshrined in the official cornerstone of America’s secular life.
According to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s report to Congress on November 17, 2021, America and China have entered a “new normal” of hardening competition amid deep interdependence. Decoupling from China’s goods stokes US inflation, as US investments into mainland China increase, and scientific and technological cooperation grow.
To find the right way forward to get along, President Xi Jinping suggested to President Joe Biden a three-pronged approach: mutual respect, co-existence and seeking a win-win outcome. Biden’s response, demanding China abide by “Rule of Law based order” and “restoration of human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong” is a non-starter in our multi-polar world disorder managed by outdated dysfunctional global organizations such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization and World Health Organization.
We live in a world led by America and China. Instead of a confrontation that puts the entire global community at risk, they should strive to establish a new bipolar world order with America upholding its democratic values with like-minded democracies and China continuing its autocratic governance with fellow autocracies.
A new bipolar rule-based order should be created, under which membership rules are clearly spelt out and accepted by members of the democratic and autocratic orders – and each other.
There are many areas in which such a bipolar world order led by America and China can forge ahead, like areas where everyone’s future is linked together, namely climate change, pandemics, space, and arms control. The two countries should take initiative to establish joint space exploration programs – starting with a Space Force to defend planet Earth.
The time is long overdue for America and China to create a bipolar world order and adopt mutually beneficial rules of engagement that lead the world away from Armageddon.