What, Me Worry?

The editors of the Washington Post are concerned about what they call Chinese President Xi’s “worrying vision” for his country. It takes them a while to get around to the meat of their concerns but here they are:

Most of all, his vision of China as a superpower was infused by a nationalist agenda. In an address that stretched for three hours and 25 minutes, Mr. Xi intoned the phrase “strong power” or “great power” 26 times, according to a New York Times count. Mr. Xi boasted that one of his regime’s most internationally controversial actions, the fortification of islets in the South China Sea, was a highlight of his first five years in office, even though an international tribunal found Beijing to be acting contrary to international law.

Mr. Xi’s biggest applause line was a vow to “never allow anyone . . . at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China.” That would include Hong Kong and Taiwan, along with those disputed rocks. But he said nothing about North Korea or its manic pursuit of a nuclear arsenal, the crisis that most demands China’s responsible cooperation.

What they haven’t established is why we should be worried. Yes, China is a different country from the United States. It has its own problems, concerns, and objectives, different from ours. Why should any of that surprise or concern us? Because China would dare to have a foreign policy different from our own?

IMO Chinese nationalism shouldn’t concern the editors of the WP. What should concern them is the U. S.’s lack of nationalism, sometimes pursuing goals that aren’t actually in our interests, sometimes pursuing goals that are only in the interests of a very narrow segment of individuals while on occasion even harming the majority of Americans or our long-term interests.

There are plenty of Chinese policies about which we should be worried. Is Tibet actually “part of Chinese territory”? Or is China’s rule of Tibet an example of raw expansionism? Where does that place Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, North and South Korea, parts of Russia, and parts of India, all of which were ruled by the Chinese at one time or another? Is there a sort of Chinese “Brezhnev Doctrine”?

China is routinely and systematically engaged in cyberattacks against U. S. government agencies and private companies alike, scouring them for usable intelligence and intellectual property. They are also routinely and systematically violating U. S. intellectual property rights. Now those are all legitimate worries.

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