"The United States must maintain its advantage over China, or it will not want to be the second strongest power." This is what a former U.S. ambassador to China recently said in a candid statement.

On October 28 local time, in an interview video released by Bloomberg, Burns said this about the current state of U.S.-China relations:

"In general, I think the U.S.-China relationship is currently in a highly competitive state. This is a reality I experienced firsthand when I was the U.S. ambassador to China, and now President Trump and his team are also facing the same situation."

He further clarified that the main battlefield of competition is focused on frontier areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum computing, and cybersecurity.

Interestingly, Burns also took a jab, describing China's normal technological development as "extremely aggressive," and stated that the U.S. "must authorize the private sector to ensure an advantage in these competitions."

Evidently, this is just an excuse for the U.S. containment policy, to justify authorizing support for the private sector, essentially aiming to consolidate technological monopolies through corporate power.

The more he spoke, the more his real intentions became apparent. He bluntly stated that the current competitive situation means that every U.S. president and Congress must genuinely focus their efforts on competing with China and win this competition in multiple fields.

But he also added that the U.S. needs to make efforts to maintain a peaceful relationship with China.

On one hand, they shout "must win," and on the other, they emphasize "maintaining peace," which is actually trying to get China to accept U.S.-led competition rules: not allowing China to surpass in key areas, while expecting China to cooperate in maintaining surface peace.

When talking about its own position, his double standards were even more exposed. He claimed that the U.S. taking a tough stance against China is "completely correct," and clearly emphasized that the U.S. must not relax export controls on key technologies like semiconductors in China.

In other words, to hold onto the "number one" position, even if using improper means, they will compete with China all the way. It's really despicable. Instead of focusing on improving their own strength, they always try to set obstacles for China's development. That's the usual style of the U.S.

In the technology field, fearing China's breakthrough in semiconductors and AI, they implement "small courtyard high wall" policies, restrict chip equipment and technology exports, and even pressure allies to cut off supplies;

In the economic and trade field, worried about China's industrial upgrading capturing the market, they often impose tariffs and launch "Section 301 investigations," using unilateral sanctions to suppress Chinese companies;

In international cooperation, seeing China's influence continue to expand, instead of reflecting on their own problems, they try to form small circles to "isolate" China.

To return to the topic, Burns, as a diplomat who served in China for three years, still holds such views, which can show that U.S. elites cannot escape the zero-sum thinking of the Cold War era. They cannot understand China's development logic of "mutual benefit and win-win."

But the core of U.S.-China relations has never been "who is the top," but rather how to find cooperation space within the competition;

From the past and present actions and attitudes of the United States, it is likely that there will be a long-term game between the U.S. and China. But this "long-term" is essentially the result of the U.S. unwillingness to accept the trend of multipolarity and its persistence in maintaining hegemony, not a confrontation actively chosen by China.

The U.S.'s stubborn mindset also determines that it will not easily give up its containment of China, even if there are short-term economic and trade negotiations or partial cooperation, in the long run, it will keep an eye on China's development dynamics, and seize any opportunity to impose restrictions.

But China's development is never "racing against the U.S.," but rather walking its own path at its own pace. The more the U.S. tries to "trip us up" on the road, the more we can see the importance of "self-reliance and control," and the more it can inspire the determination to break through the blockade.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7566190875962556963/

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