Hong Hai

Opinion | China is yin, America is yang, and they need each other more than Trump knows

China and the US can avoid a clash of civilisations if they can grasp the idea that they need to restrain, support and balance each other. Without the support and restraining influence of either country, the global order cannot last

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Hong Hai

Published: 6:00am, 17 Oct 2019Updated: 6:04am, 17 Oct 2019

In his classic The United States and China, John Fairbank gave us a glimpse of the immensely complex love-hate relationship between the two countries, one that defies simple summary: it is neither a Huntingtonian clash of civilisations nor just another case of great power rivalry.

Around the time President Donald “America First” Trump burst onto the international scene, Graham Allison raised the spectre of war between the two countries, which he said were caught in a “Thucydides Trap”.

However, it is possible to avoid the Thucydides trap with the judicious application of the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang. While the concept of yin and yang may seem esoteric to those outside the Eastern tradition, the underlying principle is universal. Yin and yang are two complementary forces in nature – one passive, the other active – that should wisely be kept in balance, for each force restrains, but also supports, the other. An excess of either yin or yang is inimical to the welfare of any system, be it human physiology, the liberal order, world trade, investment or knowledge sharing.

Sustained conflict with the aim of destroying one’s rival can only lead to mutual decline. To borrow an analogy from naturalistic Chinese medicine, it is unhealthy when either yin or yang is weak, and the other becomes dominant.

An imbalance upsets homeostasis, disrupts natural flows in the body, and might lead to disease. Chinese medical therapy consists of balancing yin and yang. This profound insight into the dynamics of all life and phenomena has brought healing and health to untold millions through the ages.

Looking at the world through the lens of yin and yang, it is not hard to see America, like much of the West, is yang in nature. It is steeped in the culture of wide personal freedom and transparent governance, and it is impatient for quick solutions to problems.