Lull and Strategic Breakthrough
Al-Khamisa News Network - Gaza
By Dr. Abdel Moneim Said
The difference between the United States and China is embodied in their foreign-policy orientations.
The United States’ strategy since the end of World War II has been a strategic opening to the entire world — by war and peace, trade and aid, sanctions, its currency and its language through global communications. It is the leading state in building aircraft carriers — 19 of them roam the world’s seas and oceans. Movements of its seven fleets take place worldwide, and it is the one that tells NATO members to raise their defense spending and expects them to comply.
American technologies run servers that receive and send trillions of messages from the four corners of the globe. It is the state that intervenes in all the world’s conflicts with military, economic and diplomatic power and always expects a positive response. Now American strategic expansion even extends to the planet Mars!
On the other hand, “strategic lying low” is China’s approach. Chinese leaders have been keen to resist two things strongly: first, the notion that China is an advanced country — instead presenting itself as a poor Third World country that should be treated on that basis in international economic forums; and second, the idea that China seeks to be a great power. Despite many regional problems, it seeks — and magnanimously — to resolve them peacefully, as it has done with the issues of Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, border problems and island disputes.
Until recently it was rare in China to speak either of a regional role or of a global one; China does not use its veto power and generally abstains from voting in the Security Council except on matters that directly concern China.
Notably, China’s stance toward the direct U.S. presence in Afghanistan, which borders China, welcomed it because it confronted terrorist groups. In fact, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States was, in effect, fighting on China’s behalf. More than that, China received, on average, about 40% of Western capital invested across the Third World. China’s ambitions in space are the moon!
