THE war of words and actions between the US and China has been escalating over the past few days, raising eyebrows across the globe, with mounting concerns over the possibility of a more serious confrontation between the world’s top two economies. While even before coming to power President Donald Trump — guided by his ‘America first’ mantra — had been talking about getting ‘tough’ on China, now that re-election looms in November, he may be looking to deliver on that promise. Earlier last week, the US ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston over allegations of “economic espionage”; Beijing replied in kind by asking America to shut its consulate in Chengdu while calling the allegations “malicious slander”. Moreover, on a recent trip to Europe, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo railed against the People’s Republic with the ideological zeal of a cold warrior, asking “every nation ... to understand this threat being posed by the Chinese Communist Party”. Before these developments, Mr Trump had called Covid-19 the “Chinese virus” while accusing China of “extinguishing Hong Kong’s freedom” after Beijing applied a new security law in the region.

It needs to be asked why the US is ramping up its anti-China rhetoric in the final months of Mr Trump’s term. It appears that the US leader is pillorying a foreign bogeyman to grab more votes, considering his flagging ratings at home. But while playing the patriotism card and lambasting China may grab him a few percentage points, the long-term impact of this brinkmanship will be negative. When rhetoric is raised to a fever pitch, the probability of unintended, and unwanted, consequences increases manifold. Moreover, while there may be legitimate questions about China’s human rights record, the US chooses to be selective in this regard — hectoring opponents, and looking the other way when allied strongmen abuse rights. Instead of picking an ugly public fight with China at a time of global tension, the US should use more discreet channels to communicate its genuine concerns to Beijing.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2020