Why China fearmongering is bad for America

China bashing, which has intensified ahead of the US presidential election, is shortsighted, undermines justified criticism of China and, critically, distracts from America’s real challenges

Stanley Chao

Published: 5:30am, 6 Mar 2024

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As the US presidential election gears up, the anti-China rhetoric has ratcheted up. Just last week, the Biden administration announced an investigation into Chinese-assembled smart cars, which it said could collect sensitive information about Americans and US infrastructure. This came after Donald Trump promised to impose tariffs of 60 per cent or more on Chinese goods if re-elected.

The political incentive for anti-China fearmongering is obvious, as the Republican and Democratic parties seek to rally support and show a tougher stance on China.

What may boost short-term political aims, however, comes at the expense of grappling with America’s real challenges, not least its fraught relationship with Beijing. While criticism of China is often warranted, reckless and unsubstantiated fault-finding confuses voters and distracts from America’s inability to maintain global dominance – all while doing nothing to resolve Sino-US tensions.

When it comes to China bashing, the race to the bottom continues. Last December, Republican senator Rick Scott set his sights on Chinese garlic or what he calls “sewage garlic”. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Scott wanted an investigation into Chinese garlic imports and their food safety, warning of an “existential emergency that poses grave threats to our national security, public health and economic prosperity”.

No, Scott was not kidding. Nor was Raimondo when she said she was “upset” over Huawei Technologies unveiling a smartphone with an advanced Chinese chip during her visit to Beijing last year.

More gravely, US military leaders have joined the fray of China alarmism. Last year, it emerged that the four-star air force general Mike Minihan had gone as far as to warn internally of war between China and the US. “I hope I am wrong,” Minihan said. “My gut tells me we will fight in 2025.”

Clearly, the largest and most advanced military in the world should not rely on a general’s gut to make life-and-death decisions. As I have long advised Western businesses, “your gut instincts don’t work in China”. There are too many pitfalls in the language, social and cultural differences.

The same should go for unsubstantiated allegations. Last year, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro speculated that US naval shipyards were at a production disadvantage because, as he put it, the Chinese “use slave labour in building their ships”. Based on my experience working with China’s shipping industry, I find it improbable that slave labour would be used in such a sensitive and important area. Shipbuilding requires highly skilled and experienced personnel, of which China has a plentiful supply.

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China airs footage of Fujian aircraft carrier featuring advanced catapult launch system

While Del Toro’s allegation lacked evidence, it did not lack political motivation. The formula was simple: stoke nationalism, show toughness and cast China as a bad actor.

Politicians sling “CCP” about as if it were a four-letter word. They revel in using the abbreviation for the Chinese Communist Party as a synonym for China itself. Perhaps they are nostalgic for the Cold War, which gave rise to jingoisms such as “better dead than red”.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley made anticommunism central to her campaign kick-off address. “China’s dictators want to cover the world in communist tyranny,” Haley said. “We are the only ones who can stop them.”

These are tough words from someone who, as South Carolina governor, once brought her state more Chinese investment than any Republican governor at the time. “It’s a great day,” she exclaimed in a video message of congratulations for the 2016 signing ceremony of a Chinese fibreglass company setting up manufacturing in South Carolina.

US Republican presidential hopeful and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a rally in Troy, Michigan, on February 25. Photo: AFP

In another Cold War echo, some China hawks sensationalise the spectre of Chinese world domination while simultaneously embellishing the prospect of China’s imminent collapse.

Last year, US President Joe Biden called China’s economy a “ticking time bomb”, adding that “when bad folks have problems, they do bad things”. So is China dangerous because it’s a growing superpower or because it’s in decline? The answer doesn’t matter, at least to American politicians, as long as Beijing plays into the “big bad wolf” political narrative. The mudslinging doesn’t have to be accurate; it just needs to hit a nerve with constituents and donors.

But there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to scoring political points. From the perspective of America’s long-term interests, such inflammatory language, alarmist predictions and undisciplined characterisations malign, confuse and marginalise the very real issues in US-China relations.

Ironically, anti-China hyperbole undermines justified US criticism of the Chinese government: for example, for the unjust Covid lockdowns, recent anti-business reforms and ever-tightening state controls.

What hope for remnants of US Republicans fighting Trump’s authoritarian drift?

By aiming rhetorical fire at China, US politicians deflect attention away from America’s fractured political system, which is bogged down in partisan bickering and unable to solve its most pressing domestic problems, including immigration, gun control and homelessness.

Geopolitically, the obsession with China may be a symptom of America’s weakened state. For example, the US military is stretched thin after being drawn into the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Then there are the severed supply chains that will take generations – and trillions of dollars – to fix.

While such problems fester, American politicians are more interested in protesting against garlic, TikTok, weather balloons, and other national security threats du jour. And don’t forget about Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods, America’s largest pork producer; after all, a good politician can exploit a ham sandwich if he or she wants to.

This campaign season, China bashing remains the order of the day. But what about advancing a relationship with China that is non-confrontational and diplomatic, if inevitably also economically competitive? Alas, that is a challenge which cannot be resolved simply by screaming “CCP”.

Stanley Chao has worked in China and the Asia-Pacific region for more than two decades and is the author of “Selling to China: A Guide for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses”