To see an article in China’s state-sanctioned media like this one is rare indeed – and it may signal a real sea-change in U.S.-China relations. Indeed, given the amount of U.S. debt Beijing holds, one might call it downright chilling.
For China’s state-controlled Geographic Times, columnist Long Tao, described as a ‘senior strategic commentator,’ writes in part:
In 30 years of relations. China has never done a thing to hurt the United States. But American acts of interference in China’s domestic affairs and attempts to curb its national interests are too numerous to mention. On the Taiwan issue, China can no longer raise protests that fall on deaf ears, break off military exchanges, or use toothless methods like these to show we’re hot under the collar. Making a tiger walk on bamboo spines is the only way to stop him from advancing. Let the U.S. feel real pain, and let Americans know that China’s patience is limited. According to the principle of reciprocity in international relations, China, with reasonable and appropriate opposition, has a powerful need to sanction the United States for its overbearance through, for example, canceling certain trade benefits, selling heavy weapons to potential American rivals, or rejecting certain strategic initiatives.”
China isn’t bereft of the ways and means to punish the United States. But some people have always thought that sanctions against the U.S. would incur too strong a reaction and that China’s interests would be worse off. It’s precisely this way of thinking that leads us to give an inch while they take a mile.
If China is unwilling to confront the United States, it is by no means due to a fear of confrontation. Now that Obama is in power, China has need for stiff action to teach the young Black president that whoever harms China’s interests will pay the price.
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