Middle East conflict poses another opportunity for US and China cooperation

The outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel is another wake-up call for Washington hawks who adamantly believe that China is an existential threat to the United States. The United States faces many clear and present dangers including climate change, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and the recurring Israel-Palestine conflict. Rather than viewing China as an enemy, the U.S. government could seek China’s cooperation to address such real problems.

There is no doubt that China’s rise challenges America’s global dominance and the international order that the West set up after World War II. China’s assertive foreign policy and tight domestic control are concerns for the United States. However, there is no evidence to suggest that China intends to replace the United States as the global power or to remake the international order based on its own rules.

China has initiated global programs, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative within the broad context of the current international system and supported by many developing countries. China has welcomed the United States to be part of these programs to promote global development, yet Washington has flatly rejected.

Politicians in Washington should call it as it is instead of pumping up the China threat. In a divided U.S. government where people agree on very few things, it has become an accepted norm that a politician can easily score points by scapegoating China and inflating the China threat. Hawks are engaged in a competition about who is tougher on China as a way to distract attention from their incompetence to address pressing problems Americans face such as gun violence, ethnic tensions, poor health care and dilapidated infrastructure.   

The military-industrial complex is probably taking great pleasures in growing conflicts around the world, from Ukraine to Gaza. The U.S. defense establishment needs a powerful enemy to justify a colossal military budget, and China fits the description.  

Hyping the China threat and developing policies to counter China are unlikely to succeed. Blocking China’s growth by restricting computer chips exported to China has failed, as evidenced by Huawei’s recent surprising unveiling of Mate 60. Arming Taiwan without reassuring Beijing that Washington will not upgrade relations with Taipei won’t work either. In fact, the more weapons Washington sells to Taiwan, the more likely Beijing will use force to achieve unification for fear of losing Taiwan permanently. 

Third parties, especially U.S. allies and partners, often find themselves between a rock and a hard place in the U.S.-China rivalry. Most of them do not want to choose sides and wish to maintain dynamic relations with both powers. A confrontational approach towards China enjoys little support around the world.  

It is unfortunate that some U.S. politicians and policymakers do not seem to understand that pushing China too hard by encircling China militarily and forming stronger semi-official ties with Taiwan greatly raise the likelihood of military conflict between the United States and China. Treating China as an enemy will turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy and creating a revengeful China serves no one’s interest.

Communication and diplomacy remain far better options than what Washington hawks are pursuing. China is a challenge, not a threat, to the United States. The United States and its allies need to develop a realistic, viable and rational policy to deal with China. The fatalistic assessment of U.S.-China relations must be replaced by a pragmatic approach that focuses on areas of common interests.

President Barack Obama was right when he declared himself America’s first Pacific president and started to “pivot” towards Asia — shifting more attention to the Asia-Pacific from fixation on combating terror after 9/11.

The most dynamic region in the world, the Asia-Pacific definitely warrants more U.S. policy attention. However, subsequent Trump and Biden administrations doubled down their efforts to counter China as the core of the so-called Indo-Pacific strategy.  

When the Russia-Ukraine war is ongoing, when the Middle East remains explosive, and when a divided Congress barely functions, it takes some wild imagination to argue that China is the biggest threat to Americans.  It’s time to reboot America’s China policy.

It’s encouraging that the Biden administration has recently modified its China approach, moving from decoupling with China to de-risking from China. High-level exchanges that were disrupted by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) Taiwan visit and the Chinese balloon incident have gradually resumed. Notably, a bipartisan congressional group led by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), just concluded a productive trip to China, the first congressional visit to China in over four years.

The latest war in Gaza not only serves as a reminder to Americans that China is not a threat to America or world peace, but also offers an opportunity for Washington and Beijing to work together on common global challenges, including the conflict in the Middle East.

Zhiqun Zhu is Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.