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U.S. sanctions threaten global economic security
By Zhong Sheng
The International Monetary Fund projected a deep recession in 2020 in its latest World Economic Outlook, saying the growing restrictions on trade and investment and rising geopolitical uncertainty could harm the recovery.
However, even at such a critical moment that concerns global development, the U.S. is still adopting beggar-thy-neighbor economic and trade policies, and arbitrarily waving the big stick of sanctions with trade protectionism and unilateralism, which has severely threatened the security of global economy.
In recent years, Washington has frequently provoked and escalated trade frictions, weaponized its tariffs, and undermined the process of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, giving a heavy blow to the world economy.
About 3,400 U.S. enterprises, including electric vehicle maker Tesla, recently sued the U.S. government over its tariffs on China. They said the White House’s capricious tariff policy has increased enterprises’ cost and led to huge economic losses, demanding repayment of taxes paid. The lawsuit reflected the U.S. government’s practices which only hurt others without necessarily benefiting itself. Facts proved that the so-called decoupling proposed by the White House, as well its high tariff barriers violate the economic laws and hinder the recovery of the world economy. According to World Trade Organization (WTO) statistics, world merchandise trade contracted by 0.1% in volume terms in 2019, and trade tensions were one of the major reasons for the decline.
The U.S. has long imposed unilateral sanctions and applied the so-called long-arm jurisdiction on other countries based on its domestic laws. Even enterprises like Japan’s Toshiba, Germany’s Siemens, France’s Alston, all from the so-called allies of the U.S., were once the targets of the White House’s “modern piracy”.
The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, JosepBorrell recently voiced his concerns in a recent statement over the growing use of sanctions, or the threat of sanctions, by the U.S. against gas projects, including the Nord Stream 2 and Turkstream. As a matter of principle the EU opposes the use of sanctions by third countries on European companies carrying out legitimate business, he said, adding such measures go against the international law.
The international community is becoming increasingly aware of what support the U.S. long-arm jurisdiction – the White House’s supremacy, selfishness, and hegemony. If the U.S. is allowed to undermine the legitimate interests and rights of other countries, or trample on the international law and the basic norms governing international relations, the common development of the world will surely be destroyed.
At present, Washington is exploiting the so-called “national security” to launch a technology Cold War, abusing its state power to suppress other countries’ tech firms. It even took away the results of other countries by force, which seriously threatened the role of innovation – the biggest engine for development.
What is alarming is that the U.S., going against the principles of market economy and the open, transparent, and non-discriminatory rules of the WTO, is insanely oppressing specific Chinese enterprises to cut the international flow of capital, technologies, products, industries, and personnel, which has seriously undermined the stability of global supply and industrial chains.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission estimated that replacing Chinese equipment manufactured by Huawei and ZTE will cost small American carriers as much as $1.8 billion.
Exerting political pressure on other countries, the U.S. is demanding other countries to stop using Chinese equipment, even at the cost of the latter’s lagged 5G construction and economic development. Obviously, what the U.S. is doing hurts itself and other countries, and the country has never put global economic security into its consideration.
As the largest economy in the world and a country that controls the world currency, the U.S. should have demonstrated an image of ” With great power comes great responsibility.” However, it is repeatedly resorting to its economic dominance and the dollar supremacy to unilaterally launch economic blockage and impose financial sanctions on other countries, which has severely undermined the ability of its target countries to develop economy and improve livelihood.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez recently said the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba has caused more than $144 billion in losses for the island nation’s economy in the past six decades. Taking into account the devaluation of the dollar against the price of gold, accumulated damages has reached the extraordinary figure of $1 trillion. Even after COVID-19 broke out, Washington has still maintained its unilateral sanctions against Syria, Cuba and Iran. As witnessed by all, the U.S. is just addicted to sanctions, becoming a prominent threat against global economic security.
It is noteworthy that the current COVID-19 pandemic is causing severe challenges for the development of world economy, and countries must work in solidarity and coordinate their efforts. Zero-sum game has no way out, neither does hegemonic thinking. The U.S. anti-globalization practices, which are hindering global economic development and threatening global economic security, are a shame. Those who go against justice will definitely lose public support, and those who bully others will never end well.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
October 29, 2020
U.S. should never sacrifice righteousness for benefits
By Zhong Sheng
There are actually no grounds for “American exceptionalism” as the U.S. has always sought to live in coexistence with the world, just like any other country.
The U.S. should never sacrifice righteousness for benefits. Only by taking the road of mutual respect, mutual benefit, mutual promotion and common development can a country secure sustained development.
Some U.S. politicians have been obsessed with the “America first” belief and indulged themselves in seizing all the benefits and leaving nothing at all for other countries.
With a total disregard for international rules, they have beaten the drum for U.S.-China economic “decoupling” and “tech cold war” and gone out of their ways to suppress some Chinese enterprises in a haughty and arrogant manner.
The truth is bullying others will definitely cause harm to themselves and conducting evil deeds will inevitably lead to disasters.
Some U.S.officials’ unethical, selfish and high-handed political manipulations are essentially dangerousfor both themselves and others.
The U.S. has established itself as the world’s economic and technological giant during the process of its long-term dominance in economic globalization.
By taking advantage of its dominant position in formulating global economic and trade rules after World War II, the U.S. has snatchedthe greatest benefits from economic globalization.
As the biggest beneficiary of globalization, it has become more dependent on and more in need of the world market and other countries.
Economic and sci-tech edges haven’t empowered the U.S. to keep a stranglehold on other countries, but required it to assume more responsibility for upholding international economic and trade rules.
The superiority of the U.S. not only comes from its wealth and strength, but from the legitimacy brought about by its domestic governance, supply of global public goods, and the ability and willingness to organize and coordinate global crisis responses, according to theForeign Affairs, an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy.
Some Americanpoliticians have taken it for granted that they could turn economic and sci-tech edges into “exorbitant privileges”, which shows their absolute ignorance of history and reality as well as their blind pride in their own strength.
There are actually no grounds for “American exceptionalism” as the U.S. has always sought to live in coexistence with the world, just like any other country.
When afinancial crisis originated in the U.S. and spread across the world in 2008,China has adopted a series of positive policies and measures and made important contributions to helping the world economy climb out of recession.
China’s policies have helped stabilize theglobal financial system, which is very important for the world economy as a whole, noted Timothy Franz Geithner, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, in March 2009.
Although times and circumstances may change, the economic advantage of the U.S. and the financial status of Wall Street are still closely related to the world.
Anyone with breadth of vision could see that by wantonly bullying and suppressing other countries and challenging the international rules, some U.S. officials have actually hurt their own interests, which runs counter to their pursuit of “America first”.
The sharp depreciation of the U.S. dollar recently is a convincing evidence. Real concerns around the longevity of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency have started to emerge, wrote the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. in a report in July.
If the coming decades bring what many have already called the “Chinese century”, the dollar may well fade as the yuan (also known as the renminbi) rises, according to NourielRoubini, professor of economics at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University.
He added that weaponization of the dollar via trade, financial, and technology sanctions could hasten the transition.
Just like the financial status of Wall Street can’t live without the world, the role of Silicon Valley as a technological innovation hub has not been solely sustained by the U.S.
“The United States’ strongest tech companies rely on a global scale of sales and operations to stay ahead of foreign rivals. For example, semiconductors, ultra-clean diesel engines, and consumer electronics all demand high levels of R&D spending, and Intel, Cummins, and Apple’s global leadership would collapse if it could not produce and sell in China,” according to an article published on Harvard Business Review, a general management magazine in the U.S.
American digital giants are now copying the success stories of their Chinese competitors, said an article published on French newspaper Le Figaro.
Some American politicians should really open their eyes and start to see what the world is like.
China is the world’s second largest economy and a major country in terms of technological innovation.
Unlike the U.S., China has never acted as if it ruled the world. Instead, it has remained humble, tolerant and open-minded, actively promoting the construction of an open world economy and carrying out international cooperation in scientific and technological innovation.
China has becomethe biggest trading partner for more than 130 countries and regions around the world, established sci-tech cooperation with 160 countries and regions, signed 114 intergovernmental cooperation agreements in the field, and participated in more than 200 international scientific and technological organizations and multilateral technology mechanisms.
Whether it is economic development or technological innovation, China has embarked upon a journey featuring openness and cooperation.
“It’s always useful to recognize China as it is, as opposed to how we might want it to be,” said Robert Zoellick, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State.
Spanish news website Rebelion has recently published an article to remind certain U.S. officials that they shouldn’t ignore the basic fact that China has stood up in the world.
In the past 40 years, the Chinese government has increased the living standards of the people by nearly 20 times, said the article.
China is the main trading partner of almost all countries and its huge development of science and technology will enable it to keep advancing, it continued.
It is a compulsory course for both China and America to understand the fact that the two countries have deeply intertwined and shared interests and accurately grasp the reality that they are dependent on each other.
Unfortunately, some U.S. politicians have peremptorily decided to make the world its own playground and determined to take whatever they want.
While wealth is covetable for a gentleman as well, he takes it in its natural course, as a Chinese saying goes.
Economic and technological advantages are by no means just excuses for the U.S. to boss around other countries.
The U.S. should never sacrifice righteousness for benefits. Only by taking the road of mutual respect, mutual benefit, mutual promotion and common development can a country secure sustained development.
September 27, 2020
U.S: Airlines call for COVID-19 testing before international flights
The U.S. aviation industry is calling on the Government to establish COVID-19 testing protocols before international flights as a way to safely reopen travel routes that have been cut amid the pandemic.
Industry stakeholders want the U.S. to reach an agreement on pre-flight COVID-19 testing procedures with Europe, Canada, or the Pacific first as part of a “limited testing pilot project”.
Stakeholders say this would allow people to travel between two countries without the need to quarantine, and allow Government officials to evaluate the efficacy of the program.
International travel among U.S. carriers is currently down 82% compared to last year as many countries’ borders remain closed to U.S. citizens.
Global Airlines on Tuesday called on Governments to replace restrictive quarantine measures with COVID-19 tests prior to all international flights.
The push for testing comes as the industry’s hopes for recovery were dealt a blow last week when the United Kingdom reintroduced quarantines on travelers from France and the Netherlands.
International Air Transport Association Director General Alexandre de Juniac, said a global agreement is needed to ensure test results on departure are accepted on arrival as this will also boost passenger confidence that everybody on the aircraft has been tested.
Airlines are forecasting a 55% decline in 2020 air traffic, according to IATA, which reported 85% of surveyed travelers expressed concerns about quarantine.
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September 23, 2020
China’s has consistent policy stance on developing China-U.S. relations
By Zhong Sheng
Though some U.S. politicians are trying everything to contain the country’s development and hinder the exchanges between China and the U.S., China still chooses to stand on the right side of history, responding with calmness, composure and confidence.
China, facing the world and future, is determined to walk along the road of peaceful development and will resolutely safeguard world peace and promote common development ,just like Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his New Year speech this year that “Human history, like a river, runs forever, witnessing both peaceful moments and great disturbances. We are not afraid of storms and dangers and barriers.”
The powerful strength gathered by China when the country is sailing in rains and storms demonstrates the country’s resolution and determination to safeguard its national sovereignty, security, and development interests, with its core national interests as the inviolable bottom line, as well as to protect international justice and equity.
The current difficulties in China-U.S. relations are completely created by the U.S. side. The latter aims to contain China’s development, and is even doing everything possible to achieve its goal. For some time, some American politicians have been continuously fabricating stories to slander China and tried to escalate their provocation against China, from smearing the Communist Party of China (CPC) and China’s political system to suppressing Chinese enterprises in the name of the so-called national security, and from arbitrarily imposing restrictions on Chinese news organizations and personnel conducting regular news reporting in the U.S and expelling Chinese journalists, to interrogating, harassing, and even detaining Chinese students in the U.S. What they did to undermine China-U.S. relations goes against history.
Charles W. Freeman, former U.S. senior diplomat and former U.S. President Richard Nixon’s translator, remarked that the U.S. seems determined to retain its supremacy – not by correcting its own deficiencies – but by tripping up and immobilizing China. By maintaining hegemony with hegemonic acts, the U.S. is the largest destroyer of today’s international order. It is standing on the opposite side of history and the international society.
It’s an international consensus that in the era of globalization, countries shall seek win-win results with strategic mutual trust, rather than containing each other with strategic threats. Mutual respect and trust help countries create common opportunities and development, while bullying and hegemony only leads to isolation. It’s ridiculous that some U.S. politicians are ceaselessly putting on awkward shows on the wrong side of history, imagining to change China with lies and intimidation. However, they don’t know that their practices are not able at all to achieve their goals.
It’s not the first day for the U.S. to deal with China, so it knows that the latter has never compromised to external pressure. Seventy years ago, when the U.S. moved its military to the bank of the Yalu River, China made a historic decision to safeguard its homeland and protect justice despite it was still a backward and poor country then. Thirty some years ago, the U.S. initiated a large-scale sanction on China and the U.S. Congress adopted over 20 bills that interfered in China’s domestic affairs. However, China made no compromise on matters of principle, proving that “China is magnanimous and is not upset by trifles like that.”
China has reiterated its stance publicly on U.S. hegemonic acts and made necessary countermeasures. The country has no intention to challenge, replace or confront with the U.S., but it will not hurt its own core interests, either.
China’s policy stance on developing China-U.S. relations has been consistent and maintains a high degree of stability and continuity. China is always ready to work with the U.S. in the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, and will always exercise maximum restraint and never make troubles.
Both history and reality proves that as long as China follows the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and takes control of the future of the country and nation, it will never be overwhelmed by any external force. China is not afraid of extreme pressure, willing to negotiate, and dares to respond to wars. The world has witnessed the solidarity and indestructible power generated by the 1.4 billion Chinese people in the COVID-19 epidemic, which fully proves that China fears no obstacle and will always grow in tribulations.
The U.S. politicians that run counter to history and wish to maintain monopolar hegemony will never gain support from the public. The international rule of law, justice, fairness, equality and mutual trust would all be trampled on if they are not stopped. Facing such arbitrary practices, China has made its firm and rational response – to safeguard multilateralism, international justice, and the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.
The future of China-U.S. relations comes from today’s choice and the lessons learned from history. To better steer the direction for the two countries’ relations, the fundamental interests of the people from the two countries and the rest of the world must be taken into consideration. The U.S. shall understand China from an objective and rational manner, make reasonable and practical policies for China, and take actions that help the bilateral relationship return to the right track.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
September 21, 2020
U.S. politicians trying to overturn current rule system doomed to fail
By Zhong Sheng
Everybody conscious knows who are overturning the current international rule system and betraying international promises and obligations, as some U.S. politicians, led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have well proved it by their “America first” approach, as well as practices that trample on rules and go against justice.
However, these U.S. politicians are still shamelessly accusing China of overturning the rule system. Such hegemonic acts are nothing but best examples of deception.
Following the “America first” approach, the U.S. has practiced unilateralism and hegemonism to the fullest. By using whatever that suits its interests and abandoning whatever that does not, it is imposing huge threats to and destroying the international rule system.
Signatories of international treaties must shoulder corresponding international responsibilities and obligations, which is the most basic common sense. However, these U.S. politicians are just doing the opposite.
The U.S., neglecting the Universal Postal Union stipulation that poor and developing economies can enjoy lower shipping rates than developed countries, declared to withdraw from the organization in the excuse that countries shall adopt self-declared rates. The White House also neglected its international obligations to cope with climate change and help developing countries cut emission, and quit the Paris Agreement in less than a year since it submitted an instrument of ratification to the United Nations (UN).To divert public attention from its incapability of epidemic control, the White House unreasonably attacked and withdrew from the World Health Organization this year, at the most critical moment of the global fight against COVID-19.
The number of international treaties that the current U.S. administration has quit is the highest in history, and such practice exactly exposed the short-sightedness and hegemony of the U.S. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations recently pointed out that the country is seen not just as less attractive and capable but also as less reliable, as it withdraws from multilateral agreements and distances itself from allies.
The “America first” approach has created huge damage to the universal international commercial rules. In the recent years, the White House has been starting trade disputes around the world, weaponizing tariffs and making national security a mighty shield against everything. It takes its trade partners as enemies, and blatantly violates the market rules of equal and free competition. It abuses the so-called national security and employed state resources to attack others, including suppressing a series of Chinese private firms such as Huawei, Byte Dance and Tecent. In essence, the country is bullying enterprises from other countries and trampling on commercial rules with state power. Such practices go against the market economy and equal competition rules the U.S. had long boasted, and damage international rules.
Some said that the U.S. government has violated the constitution and exceeded its authority by banning Chinese tech firms and requesting individuals and entities under the jurisdiction of the U.S. to stop trading with relevant Chinese firms and their subsidiaries.
“America first,” which indeed is “private interests first,” is a policy that contradicts the international rules safeguarding equity and justice. America economist Paul Krugman attributed the self-destructive behaviors of U.S. politicians to the fact that “They were all members of America’s cult of selfishness.” They replace globalism with “America first,” which in essence is a practice of placing political needs and private interests above global consensus, equity and justice. They will eat their bitter fruits.
In July, the U.S. once again hindered the restarting of the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO, leading to lack of efficacy and security of the rule-based global trade system. What it did was opposed by multiple countries.
The U.S. has withdrawn from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but it recently unreasonably requested to restore sanctions on Iran, which triggered opposition from other members of the UN Security Council. Even its allies from the European Union described the request as invalid. U.S. diplomats pointed out that the U.S. today in confronting with the world.
As a Chinese saying goes, the world community is equally shared by all. The U.S. politicians who try to overturn the current rule system will never succeed, and any practice that places private interests above the common interests of the world is doomed to fail.
September 21, 2020
China and U.S. need to learn from experience, properly manage differences
By Tao Wenzhao
China-U.S. ties have been put in the most difficult situation since the two countries established diplomatic relations,as some politicians in the U.S. have kept making false statements and groundless remarks against China.
They have viciously attacked the Communist Party of China (CPC) and China’s political system and deliberately distorted and even attempted to write off the history of China-US relations for the past nearly 50 years.
The U.S. side’s misconceptions and spiteful words and moves about China and China-U.S. relations may lead to further deterioration of bilateral relations. The U.S. move to turn China into an adversary is a fundamental, strategic miscalculation, said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Strategic miscalculations have caused serious consequences in the history of China-U.S. relations. However, more often than not, the two sides havemanaged to prevent the situation from getting worse through wise and rational moves, in which some basic experience is still useful today.
It is important to keep communication channels open.During the Cold War period in the 1950s to 1960s, China and the U.S. could only communicate with each other with help of a third party or through various indirect ways.
In the difficult situation, the two countries still managed to maintain the communication channel of ambassador talks, which had played a major role in solving some issues.
In 1971, Henry Kissinger, then National Security Advisor of U.S. President Richard Nixon, visited China. One year later, Nixon made an “ice-breaking” visit to China, enabling the two countries to conduct face-to-face conversations.
Later in 1979 when the two countries established diplomatic relations, China and the U.S. also carried out such dialogues.
The strategic dialogues and negotiations are considered sincere, in-depth, and successful, and allowed China and the U.S. become closer after more than 20 years of estrangement since the founding of the People’s Republic of China and build mutual trust in the initial stages.
The two countries are now in urgent need of new dialogues. By using various channels of dialogues, they are more likely to talk about their core interests and strategic intentions.
China has made it very clear that its door to dialogue remains open. As long as the U.S. is ready, China is willing to resume and restart dialogue mechanisms at all levels and in all fields at any time.
Disagreements may occur during the dialogues, but that’s all right—as long as the two parties sincerely hope to talk things over.
Empty shouts and finger-pointing will not solve the problems,but can cause new misunderstanding instead.
China and the U.S. need to maintain a rational and objective attitude towards each other and base their judgment on facts rather than ideological bias.
It is not easy, yet not impossible, for the two sides to always remain calm and objective, since the China-U.S. relations and international situation are so complex.
Indeed, China and the U.S. have different ideologies. But that didn’t prevent the Nixon administration from altering its policy toward China nor did it stop the U.S. government led by Jimmy Carter from normalizing China-U.S. ties.
“You believe deeply in your system, and we believe just as deeply in our system. It is not our common beliefs that have brought us together here, but our common interests and our common hopes,” said Nixon while addressing the welcoming banquet for his first visit to China at the Great Hall of the People.
The normalization of China-US relations has not changed the social system and ideology of China or the U.S., but has enabled the two countries to overcome difficulties and obstacles and to advance the bilateral relationship.
Nowadays, the two sides should continue to take a rational and objective attitude towards fundamental issues such as the international order and global governance, and avoid linking whatever problems with the bilateral relations to ideology.
If ideology should be allowed to dominate the relationship between the two countries, it would surely distort the truth and cause serious damage to the relationship between the two countries.
China and the U.S. should leave adequate leeway in handling bilateral relations and make reasonable decisions on bilateral relations.
The past 41 years has not all been smooth sailing for China-US relations. There have been ups and downs and even major setbacks on the way. However, the two countries have always approached their relationship from a historical perspective and with the bigger picture in mind. They have managed differences and disagreements, properly handled sensitive issues, and safeguarded the momentum of steady growth in China-US relations.
When the bilateral ties were struck by unexpected incidents, the two countries would leave some leeway in responding to the incidents, thus avoiding further escalating the tension.
Both sides, especially China, showed restraint in defining the nature of these incidents and demonstrated their ability to properly handle complex conflicts.
By keeping the damage to China-U.S. relations caused by certain incidents within a relatively short period of time and a certain range, they have been able to restore the bilateral relationship quickly.
What has happened shows that no obstacle is insurmountable for China and the U.S. The key lies in a true commitment to mutual respect, equality and seeking common ground while shelving differences. It lies in the courage to take up the responsibility for history and the people.
China and the U.S. must always keep to the right direction in the relationship, and bear firmly in mind their common interests.
They must always manage their differences in a constructive manner, abide by the principles and spirit of the three Joint Communiqués issued by the two countries, and respect each other’s core interests and major concerns.
While their bilateral relations weathering various obstacles and ups and downs over the past decades, China and the U.S. have accumulated rich experience in handling disagreements.
The current international situation and the state of the China-US relations are different from the past, which requires both sides to handle the problems more wisely than ever.
The truth remains that China and the U.S. stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. The two countries need to learn from historical experience and try to bring the bilateral relations back to the right track of stable development from a new starting point.
(The author is a researcher at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
August 20, 2020
U.S. “confrontation game”disobeys justice

By Zhong Sheng

The China-US ties are facing the most serious challenges since the two countries established diplomatic relations, which has caused widespread concern in the international community.

This situation came from some U.S. politicians’ wrong strategic comprehension on China’s development, as well as their efforts to build a “tough” image for domestic politics by adopting a seemingly “aggressive” diplomacy.

While the COVID-19 epidemic is steadily worsening in America, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is intent upon creating and spreading political viruses, as well as dressing China up as a rival, even an enemy of the U.S., in a bid to shoulder his so-called “responsibility” of“protecting”American interests.Such ahegemonic and evil political scheme will never be tolerated by justice.

It should be noted that the U.S. will neither defeat the pandemic nor get rid of its long-standing social issues by interfering in the affairs of other countries as a “global sheriff” and advocating adversarial diplomacy.

The poor pandemic response by the U.S. government, the miseries happening to U.S. citizens, as well as the frequent occurrence of the deep-seated racial problems are all domestic governance issues that the White House must address.

However, the ridiculous and arbitrary practices by some U.S. politicians have astonished the world. Rather than taking efforts to find solutions to the problems and protect the health and well-being of the American people, they have been engaged in picking faults and blame games.

When the U.S. is facing huge risks in its people’s lives and its social and economic development, these American officials are doing nothing but scapegoating others for their own misconducts, which only made them clowns.

As a matter of fact, the surging governance deficit of the U.S. has drawn reflection of the U.S. society.

After the Cold War, the U.S. has waged many wars against other countries and thus put itself into infinite self-consuming. Domestically, it is haunted with excessive expansion, racial conflicts, social differentiation and political polarization.

“When the virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly,”said a recent article published on The Atlantic.Chronic ills—a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public—had gone untreated for years, the article continued.

Some U.S. politicians are devoting themselves in populism, unilateralism and protectionism, ridiculously believing that these are the remedy to social panic. However, anyone insightful could see that the wrong prescriptions will only make things even worse.

The international landscape is undergoing profound changes and the epidemic has made such changes more distinct.

In a world full of instabilities and uncertainties, what determines the competitiveness of a country is its ability to improve the governance and solve its own problems, not its ability to bully other countries and even destroy the international system.

What the U.S. really needs to think about is how to meet the real demands of the society by developing healthy and benign foreign relations.Only by finding a correct solution can the U.S. manage to alleviate its social conflicts.

Like China, the U.S. needs a peaceful international environment so that it could recover from the damage caused by the Cold War and subsequent foreign military intervention, according to Charles Freeman, an American expert in Chinese studies.

Americans need to focus their wealth and attention on domestic reconstruction and need a sound relation with China to do so, he added.

The “confrontation game” designed by the U.S. will definitely hurt both China and itself, and even the world at large.

Of course, the U.S. has to pay a price for such confrontation, and the consequences include huge consumption of American resources, worsening social conflicts, and the loss of interests of the U.S. public.

Whether to choose win-win cooperation or conflicts and confrontation is a question that tolerates no wrong answer, and shall be responded to based on justice.Any motive of the U.S. politicians that runs counter to justice is doomed to fail.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
July 17, 2020
U.S. Cold War mentality shall come to an end
By Zhong Sheng
Some U.S. politicians are just doing everything to politically persecute China, and everything about China.
FBI Director Christopher Wray groundlessly fanned up the so called “China threat” in his speech delivered at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. on June 7 local time, shamelessly undermining the regular nation-to-nation relations with political lies.
When the world is seeing urgent demand for cooperation and mutual assistance, such Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice are extremely dangerous and alarming.
These U.S. politicians are obsessed with ideological confrontation and addicted to setting imaginary enemies. It’s obvious to all that all the so-called “crimes” tarnishing China are lies and conspiracies. Wray’s stigmatizing remarks once again showed the world that “Pinocchio’s nose”was growing even longer. There’s no doubt that the more these U.S. politicians lie, the more taints they leave in history.
It seems like that these U.S. politicians have recently turned paranoid on the stigmatizing game. They are taking turns to attack and smear China with fabricated “crimes”, without any rationality or sense of justice, breaking the bottom line of human civilization and morality.
Before Wray made his speech, U.S. President’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had repeatedly staged similar farces, and U.S. Attorney General William Barr is also expected to do the same soon.
Such organized political persecution by these U.S. politicians is a weird practice in international relations. The ridiculous farces they staged are not only undermining China-U.S. ties, but also impacting international order.
China’s development is not a free lunch, or granted by others. It is achieved by the diligent, wise and courageous Chinese people of all ethnic groups under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
When assessing China’s development, one should not only see what benefits the Chinese people have gained, but also how much hard effort they have put in, not just what achievements China has made, but also what contribution China has made to the world.
China pursues a path of common development through opening-up, and aims to benefit other countries and their people as much as possible while pursuing development at home. It is a fact well recognized by the world, and will not be changed no matter how these U.S. politicians are viciously and ridiculously labeling China.
The world is facing huge pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic, and a deep recession is inevitable. China and the U.S., as the world’s largest developing and developed countries, should properly handle their relations in a way that’s responsible for the mankind, the history and the people. To make China-U.S. ties coordinated, cooperative and stable based on non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation conforms to the interests of the people from both countries and the rest of the world.
However, just like U.S. scholar Jeffrey Sachs has put it, “The US is a force for division, not for cooperation.”The unfriendly practices of the U.S. have seriously threatened the normal development of China-U.S. relations. The anti-China forces in the U.S. are kidnapping the diplomatic policies of the White House, trying to push China-U.S. relations toward the so-called “new Cold War.” They must pay huge price for such practices that go against history.
Morality makes a person stand and a country prosper.Those U.S. politicians obsessed with lying and Cold War mentality shall understand that political persecution will never work, but is only irresponsible for the future of the U.S. and the interests of the world and isolate the U.S. To bring back rationality and do more to promote China-U.S. ties remains the only way out.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
July 11, 2020
Nothing can stem people-to-people friendly ties between China, U.S.
By Zhong Sheng
“Distortion”is a perfect word describing the paranoid opinions of certain U.S. politicians about the world.
Recently, some U.S. Congress members once again harped on the shopworn argument of the alleged“threat” of China’s Confucius Institutes, ridiculously demanding in a report on national security strategy that all the Confucius Institutes register in the U.S. as “foreign agents”.
The move aimed at further hyping the “China threat” theory with lies and cutting off the close ties between China and the U.S. formed during the past more than four decades, so as to provoke comprehensive confrontation between the two sides.
It’s not news that these U.S. politicians take the Confucius Institutes as a thorn in their flesh.They have constantly resorted to political manipulation to fabricate groundless allegations against the institutes, claiming that the institutesare established to serve China’s so-called “influence operations” in foreign countries, pose the risk of espionage, and interfere with U.S. academic freedom.They even threatened to close all the Confucius Institutes on American campuses.
However, the Confucius Institutes are nothing like how they stigmatized. On the contrary, they are well recognized by the international community.
The first Confucius Institute was established in 2004, and now the organization is seen in more than 160 countries and regions across the world.
Guided by the principle of mutual respect, friendly consultation, equality and mutual benefit, the Confucius Institutesteach Chinese language and promote cultural and educational exchanges. They have won widespread support from the world.
The Confucius Institutes in the U.S. were jointly established by Chinese and U.S. universities based upon the voluntary application of the U.S. side. All the teaching and cultural activities held in these institutes are transparent and open.
The Chinese side only sends teachers and textbooks according to the demand of the U.S. side, and never meddles in the latter’s academic freedom, let alone coercing these institutes into promoting Chinese culture in the U.S.
People can tell right and wrong no matter how facts are distorted. Seeing the U.S. politicians try to impose political pressure on Confucius Institutes, some American universities have repeatedly stated their stand, and firmly refutedthe lies driven by politics.
“The Confucius Institute at Webster University furthers the important goal of educating our students with a global perspective and is consistent with our long-standing commitment to diversity,” wrote Webster University in Missouri in a letter to a U.S. Congress member who demanded that the university “reconsider”its relationship with Confucius Instituteas it is being used by the latter for “a nefarious purpose”.
“We have no reason to believe that the Confucius Institute at Webster University creates the risks described in your letter,” said Webster President Elizabeth Stroble in the letter in reply to U.S. Senator Josh Hawley.
Harvey Perlman, former chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who had provided full support for the establishment of the Confucius Institute at the university, stressed that the U.S. side maintained full control of the curricula of the Confucius Institute and did not see evidence that it was interfering with academic programs.
As a matter of fact, similar international programs focusing on language teaching and cultural exchanges can be found everywhere, and countries are generally open to them.
Certain U.S. politicians’ targeting Confucius Institutes for political ends and playing double standards on them have actually exposed their ulterior motives to the world.
Facts don’t matter to them anymore. To pursue their own political interests, they spare no effort to cook up “threats”, fatuouslybelieving that they can confuse right and wrong and win fame by such cheap means as long as they keep repeating lies.Regarding this, international observers warned that McCarthyism was resurging in the U.S.
As a Chinese saying goes, “A gentleman is open and poised; a petty man is unhappy and worried.”
China has never intended to challenge or replace any country. Instead, it has always been making efforts to nurture a healthy relationship with the U.S. in accordance with the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
The current problems troubling China-U.S. ties are fundamentally the result of the zero-sum game mindset and ideological prejudiceshaunting certain politicians in the U.S.
Many of those so-called China hawks in the U.S. Congress have never been to China and thus have limited knowledge about the country, pointed out former U.S. Ambassador to China Max Sieben Baucus.
The new round of anti-China wave in the U.S. is more of a result of the anxiety of the Americans, rather than what Chinese people have done, according to former U.S. senior diplomat Charles W. Freeman.
The populism is in fact caused by instigation of the elite class in the U.S., Freeman said.
International relation is after all the ties between the people. It needs the support from the people and ultimately serves the people.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the people, enterprises, and social organizations in China and the U.S. have lent a helping hand to each other whenever the two sides were in need,showingthe precious spirit of mutual help in the global crisis.
It fully indicates that China and the U.S. enjoy a profound social foundation for friendly exchanges.
The people in the two countries has atraditional and well-established friendship. No matter how hard certain U.S. politicians try to make troubles for the relations between the two countries, they will never alterthe development of friendship between the two peoples.
Nothing can stem the people-to-people friendly ties between China and the U.S. Anyone whoattempts to reverse history will finally be abandoned.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
June 15, 2020
U.S. politicians’ absurd act of scapegoating China won’t change facts
By Zhong Sheng
In a dark, windy night, a gang of extremely vicious terrorists launched a sudden assault on a village. The household which was attacked first was quickly filled with gunfire and flames, and burst into flames.
As the family struggled to survive, another family in the village not only stood by and let the situation get worse, but made sarcastic remarks on the misfortune, saying that “this family must had irritated the terrorists, and thus incurred the revenge now.”
To its surprise, the family that was brutally assaulted fought back against the attackers desperately and wouldn’t flinch in the face of life-threatening danger.
After battling with the family for a long time, the terrorists got frustrated and realized that they had unwisely started the war by attacking a tough family that won’t yield. Then the Mob decided to shift their focus somewhere else.
Surprisingly, the family that mocked the victims became the new target of the terrorist attack and was caught unprepared.
Serious lack of precautions or prompt response to the attack made the second family completely overwhelmed as the attackers drove straight in its house and wantonly slaughtered its family members, causing massive casualties and tremendous damage to its home.
Shocking as it sounds, at the critical moment when the terrorists were still killing more of its family members, the second family didn’t reflect on its own failure in anticipating the situation and coping with the catastrophe, but started to complain that the first family hadn’t captured and killed the terrorists, and even demanded that the first family compensates it for its losses…
Does this story sound just like what happened on the earth since the COVID-19 outbreak?
Today, the U.S. is still faced with severe epidemic situation. Both its number of confirmed cases and death toll of the disease are the highest in the world. No matter the politicians of the country say, facts are facts.
In an effort to shift the blame for their own faults and incompetence onto China to distract attention of U.S. people, certain U.S. politicians first falsely accused China of covering up information about the outbreak, and then cooked up the rumor that the novel coronavirus was leaked from a Chinese lab.
These groundless allegations against China have all been disproven time and again and refuted by scientists and medical experts from various countries repeatedly.
Recently, U.S. politicians adopted new wording to scapegoat China for the spread of the COVID-19 around the globe, saying that “The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government.”
What kind of logic is that? Just like the story above, the ridiculous attempt of certain U.S. politicians to pass the buck to China for its own faults is unreasonable and highly illogical.
Every country wants to wipe out major infectious disease as soon as it emerges, but no country can guarantee the result, which is normal and logical, let alone a brand new virus as the novel coronavirus.
Mankind knew nothing about such key aspects of the virus as its transmission and pathogenic mechanisms when it first broke out, which made it extremely difficult to be prevented and controlled.
China was the first to report the disease. But there has been no final conclusion on when and where the human-to-human transmission of the virus started.
When confronted with the infectious disease that has spread the fastest, caused the most extensive infections and been the hardest to contain since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China made the containment of the epidemic the top priority.
With Chinese President Xi Jinping personally taking charge and planning the response to the outbreak, the country has made nationwide efforts to stop the virus from spreading to other parts of the world.
Putting people’s health and safety before everything else while taking the worst-hit Hubei province and its capital Wuhan the country’s main battlefield against the epidemic, China made clear requirements of preventing the coronavirus from spreading within the region or beyond.
The country has taken a series of decisive measures to prevent and control the spread of the disease and treat patients, preliminarily curbed the rapid spread of the disease in over one month, brought its daily number of new confirmed cases at home under ten in about two months, and made significant achievements in the fight against the virus in Hubei province and its capital Wuhan while bringing the epidemic under control across the country in around three months.
As a country with 1.4 billion people, it’s hardly easy for China to bring the outbreak under control in such a short time.
Just like many foreign media and international figures commented, China has made unquestionable achievements in fighting the COVID-19.
China’s efforts to fight the epidemic helped stem further spread of the disease, effectively cut off the transmission chain of the virus, contributing significantly to the global fight against the epidemic.
In fact, since the outbreak of the epidemic, U.S. politicians have praised China for its epidemic prevention and control measures on many occasions, saying things including “I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control,” “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency,” and “Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation.”
On Jan. 23, China closed all outbound channels at airports and railway stations of Wuhan, since when until April 8, there had been no commercial flights departing from or arriving in the city, and no trains left the city.
On Jan. 31, the U.S. government was the first among all foreign countries to announce suspension of direct flights between China and the U.S. operated by three major U.S. airlines. On Feb. 2, the country closed its borders to all Chinese citizens and foreigners who had been to China within the previous 14 days.
It seemed that the U.S. thought it can rest easy as long as China was there to prevent and control the spread of the virus and it cut off air links with China, which has been proven to be wishful thinking.
As facts have shown, the U.S. squandered the nearly two-month time window won by China.
U.S. delay in taking social-distancing measures caused about tens of thousands of people to lose their lives to the epidemic, according to a research team from Columbia University.
Had the U.S. begun imposing social-distancing measures one week earlier in March, 36,000 fewer people would have died in the COVID-19 pandemic, and about 83 percent of the country’s deaths would have been avoided, estimated the research team.
Some U.S. people don’t understand why the disease first broke out in China, but spread all over the world rather than various parts of China.
It’s actually quite easy to explain the reasons to those who really don’t understand, as the whole thing is not that complicated. However, it’s afraid that some people have already known the answer and just asked the question to mislead the public.
China’s nationwide efforts to fight the epidemic actually refer to travel restrictions across the country, efforts to put a megacity and a whole province with more than 60 million people under lockdown, tremendous mobilization and deployment of personnel and materials to help Hubei with its epidemic fight, free treatment for all COVID-19 patients, regardless of the cost, earnest implementation of joint prevention and control mechanism in every community and village, and concerted efforts of 1.4 billion people who have voluntarily worn face masks, washed their hands frequently, and avoided gatherings of people.
Inconceivable as they sound for some American people, these are what have actually happened in China, and also the reasons why the disease didn’t spread in large scale to other provinces of the country and was impossible to spread beyond its borders.
Statistics from several major Canadian provinces have shown that the novel coronavirus spread in Canada was brought to the country by U.S. visitors, according to foreign media.
Australia explained clearly in March that 80 percent of its COVID-19 cases have been either imported from overseas or close contacts of these people, with most of the cases being brought in from the U.S.
A latest research report released by Tel Aviv University (TAU) suggested that about 70 percent of Israeli COVID-19 cases had been infected with a novel coronavirus strain that originated in the U.S.
The French research institute Institut Pasteur found that the virus strain circulating locally in France is of unknown origin.
None of the imported COVID-19 cases in Russia was from China.
Singapore’s COVID-19 cases imported from China were less than one tenth of those from other countries.
According to the Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the novel coronavirus strain confirmed in Japan since early March was not from China.
After researching strains of novel coronavirus found in different patients, research institutes in the U.S. have reached the same conclusion that these strains are highly similar to those of the novel coronavirus found in European visitors.
It’s indisputable that by making all-out efforts to fight the COVID-19, China has not only protected the health and safety of its people, but also contributed to global public health security.
The COVID-19 outbreak has brought about a competition between the virus and sense of responsibility and courage of countries, and also a major test of morality and conscience.
China, while adhering to the principle of putting people’s lives above everything, submitted an “answer sheet” that has been marveled at by people around the world.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
June 8, 2020