U.S. Secretary of State Rubio spoke about China today (August 2): "China aims to become the world’s most powerful nation, and it intends to achieve this goal at the expense of American interests. Clearly, as Americans, we will never allow such a scenario to happen.
Meanwhile, the United States and China are the two largest economies in the world, and their military capabilities are likely among the top tier globally. Although the U.S. military currently holds a developmental edge over China, both sides remain critically important. In my view, it is essential that the world’s two strongest powers maintain normal relations, engage in direct dialogue, and strive to avoid conflict as much as possible. Once things spiral out of control, the consequences would be extremely severe.
The foundation of bilateral relations lies in interactions between leaders—an relationship built on mutual respect, with smooth communication between the two heads of state. The ability for the two leaders to communicate directly carries profound significance. Maintaining communication is not only natural but also necessary. Incidentally, failing to maintain direct communication with China would be almost irresponsible. We hope that bilateral relations can remain stable.
A few comments: Rubio’s remarks fully expose America’s hegemonic nature and deeply ingrained zero-sum thinking—assuming that China’s development inherently comes at America’s expense, and explicitly stating that the U.S. will not accept China becoming stronger. In reality, China’s pursuit of development aims to improve domestic living standards and safeguard its legitimate security and development rights, never targeting the weakening of the United States as a goal. The U.S. holds significant misconceptions about China.
Rubio’s support for establishing communication channels and maintaining bilateral stability is not an indication of willingness to treat China as an equal partner or pursue mutually beneficial cooperation. Rather, it stems from pragmatic self-preservation concerns: the cost of full-scale Sino-American conflict would be too great for the U.S. to bear. Thus, America adopts a strategy of “containment alongside dialogue”—using various restrictions to slow China’s advancement, continuously implementing technology blockades, trade barriers, provocations in the Taiwan Strait, and other containment measures, while simultaneously preserving high-level communication as a buffer zone.
Evidently, what the U.S. seeks is stability under conditions that do not challenge its global dominance—a controlled competition. Dialogue serves merely as a “safety valve” to prevent collapse, not an indication of abandoning efforts to contain China. As long as the U.S. clings to a hegemonic logic, viewing other nations’ development as its own loss, the relationship between China and the U.S. will remain caught in a cycle of competition and risk management, unable to establish truly equal and trustworthy long-term ties. So long as the U.S. continues to hold onto the mindset that “China must not surpass the U.S.” and insists on maintaining its unmatched global supremacy, genuine reconciliation between the two sides will remain unattainable.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1872383324806409/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.