With its China bashing, America risks breaking a profitable partnership

China bashing has become as much a part of the modern American political tradition as criticising foreign producers of oil. The American electorate has regrettably become accustomed to the predictable torrent of anti-Chinese rhetoric from politicians of a variety of political persuasions – currently manifested by the incendiary rhetoric of Donald Trump.

He is playing upon the fears and disillusionment largely of blue-collar workers who do not understand that China is not the source of their problems; rather, America’s failure to remain competitive in the global economic landscape is to blame.

They also do not realise that China will soon reassume the mantle of the world’s largest economy – a title which it held until just before the start of the Industrial Revolution. Until that time, China was the leading steel producer, textile manufacturer and trading nation – from the Chinese perspective, it is simply about to resume the status which it previously held.

Some Americans may bristle at the notion that capitalism has helped China dominate the global economy but, the truth is, China was practising capitalism a long time before America even became a nation.

China is the unwitting villain in America’s political fairy tale

China is not above criticism, and some American politicians do raise some valid points in criticising China, such as that the government controls large parts of the Chinese economy through state-owned enterprises, which distorts the domestic market and gives some Chinese companies unfair competitive advantages. But what they then fail to say is that China must also compete in the global marketplace, and that it pays a price for supporting companies that should otherwise fail as a result of being poorly run, inefficient or bloated.