U.S.' Cold War mentality and reverse-time paradox

Recently, the Sino-U.S. relationship was severely strained by the U.S. government's insistence on carrying out the previous administration's wrong decision to sell arms to Taiwan and stirring up the "Google Incident". Consequently, the adverse effect spread into many key fields of exchange and cooperation between the two countries. Compared with 2009, the way the U.S. handled the China-American relationship was perplexing. Experience from the past and current reality reveals that there is a stubborn mindset rooted in U.S. diplomatic strategies.

Since inauguration the Obama administration has been trying hard to break away from the Cold War mentality. However, some people on the U.S. side intentionally apply the outdated Cold War mentality in handling America's relations with China. Such mentality is prominently characterized by upholding ideological differences as a distinction line, thus making it difficult to cast away the long-existing bias. Under the influence of a Cold War mentality, it is easy to exaggerate, overstate, or focus on one point without taking anything else into account. Accordingly, it is not difficult to see the bigotry and ignorance of the Cold War mentality. As China has witnessed rapid growth in recent years, the nature of the Cold War mentality has led to the emergence of the so-called China Threat Theory, Collapse-of-China Theory, and China's Responsibility Theory, etc. The leftover venom of these theories has been poisoning the political, economic, military, and cultural fields and has severely obstructed the development of Sino-U.S. relations.

Just as is said by American scholars, China and the United States do not trust each other in some regards and there are still deep misunderstandings between the two countries due to various historical, ideological, cultural, and geological reasons. The two countries should work hard to understand each other more instead of deepening the already existing misunderstandings. Developing a mutually beneficial and constructive bilateral relationship should be taken as the general direction of the development of Sino-U.S. relations.

American Standard - always expect a rival

The author Linda Backteman, a professor from the Department of History, Uppsala University (Sweden), maintains that American ideology consists of two parts, namely theocratic ideology and hero complex. Both theocracy and heroes bear the images of American people, so in American ideology, they always hold an "American Standard".

In the ideology of Americans, China is the biggest concern. As is said by Huntington, China is the representative of Confucian civilization. Besides, China's communist leadership is atheistic. This deep-seated contradiction in Sino-U.S. relations is almost insurmountable. The hero complex in American people's mind drives them to assume responsibilities beyond their capacity. If American people are left with no space to display their abilities, it will be hard for them to accept the reality. Therefore, Americans always need rivals which have actually been demonized. The hero complex thus finds its expression. The United States needs to make an excuse to camouflage its external expansion, to find a scapegoat to cover its mistakes, and to wipe out a threat for its own benefits.

It is just under such circumstances that China comes in as the most suitable object to satisfy America's hero complex. In fact, it is pretty clear to American people that there is still quite a big gap between the strength of China and that of the United States, so China is only a make-up rival set up by some Americans with ulterior motives. Accordingly, we can predict that with the United State under the dominance of the theocratic ideology, China will continue to be regarded as "a freak". Moreover, from the point of practical interests, China will continue to be taken as a rival to satisfy the hero complex of the American people. For some time in the future, twists and turns, or even dramatic ups and downs may become normal in Sino-U.S. relations, which is the product of the selfish "American Standard".

American thinking – determine inevitable Sino-U.S. frictions

The ideology of the United States casts profound influence on its foreign policies. Though ideology itself can not determine foreign policies directly, it offers the atmosphere for diplomatic decision making, guides decision makers to take national interests and security as the top priority, and helps legalize newly-formulated foreign policies.

Americans are always reluctant to admit that they have ideology. However, the fact is that the United States stresses the reflection of its ideology in foreign policies most. For instance, Americans have a special sense of destiny and mission, which ultimately arises from the unshakable concept of "American Exceptionalism". Admittedly, the "China Threat Theory" lingering in American people's minds comes partly from lack of understanding about Chinese institutions and policies. The fundamental reason, however, is the deeply-rooted hostility against and fear of the existence of communism. The United States is more sensitive to communist ideology than other western countries, so its response is usually more ridged and its anti-communist stance is more stubborn and persistent.

In a word, due to differences in ideology, political systems, and culture, it is very difficult for China and the United States to get rid of suspicion. Therefore, contradictions and frictions will be common for a long time to come.

American diplomacy - ideological mischief

Many state leaders who have interactions with the United States pointed out that U.S. diplomacy was inclined to be desperately erratic. This country does not agree to the notion that nations have no permanent friends or permanent enemies, but only permanent interests. Sometimes, the congress, president, and the court could have completely different attitudes towards a particular foreign issue. Many scholars who study U.S. diplomacy describe this mindset to be American ideology.

U.S. diplomacy has many aspects. People often run into three major ideological concepts: belief in destiny, lecturing proneness and American exceptionalism. Only by enhancing international exchanges is it possible for us to replace the negative ideological elements ingrained in our minds with historical facts and understand the true face and ideological concepts of other nations with an equal vision, and fight against ideological bigotry with the weapon of facts. Only in this way can the United States be free from the "paradox of power".

By People's Daily Online