It appears that in Western election
campaigns, criticizing China has become a convenient and effective tactic for
winning votes. Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and US
ambassador to the UN who is now competing with Donald Trump for the GOP
presidential nomination, has launched a highly aggressive campaign against
China.
اضافة اعلان
Last week, Haley tweeted: "COVID
19 likely came from a Chinese lab. Cut US aid. Not a cent to Communist
China." This tweet is surprising coming from someone who has represented
their country to the UN and is now vying to become the world's most powerful
person. It suggests that she is either unaware of the US's debt status, or
deliberately wants to portray China as a debtor. By tweeting such things, she
seems to have overlooked the fact that the situation is actually the opposite:
the US owes billions of dollars to China.
Making China a
‘bad guy’
Nevertheless, this tweet is just one part
of her ongoing series of attacks against China. Last week, in an opinion
article in the New York Post, Haley made an attack on China, which she
apparently considers the enemy of the US.
If voted to power, she would cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that “hate the US”. This includes China, Pakistan, and other countries as "a strong America doesn't pay off the bad guys".
In her article, she declared that, if
voted to power, she would cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that
“hate the US”. This includes China, Pakistan, and other countries as "a
strong America doesn't pay off the bad guys".
“American taxpayers still give money
to Communist China for ridiculous environmental programs, despite the obvious
threat China poses to Americans,” she wrote in her article. “That’s why I will
cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate us… We are giving huge
amounts of cash to countries that vote against us most of the time.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” she
continued. “I’ll stop it. America can’t buy our friends. We’ll certainly never
buy off our enemies.”
Offenses and
attacks
A few days prior, speaking at her
first rally in Charleston, South Carolina, Haley displayed her antagonism
towards China in very offensive language. She claimed that, under her
leadership, "Communist China will end up on the ash heap of history… like
the Soviet Union before it.”
Laced with a thick glaze of disinformation and a biased mentality, Haley’s barrage of anti-China rhetoric is a reflection of the malaise towards China that has seeped into the American thinking.
These are perhaps some of the
harshest words used by any of the American leaders in recent history against
China. Laced with a thick glaze of disinformation and a biased mentality,
Haley’s barrage of anti-China rhetoric is a reflection of the malaise towards
China that has seeped into the American thinking.
The imaginary
villain tactic
Haley’s
tirade against China at this early stage of her Republican nomination campaign
reflects a chronic problem with American politics. US foreign policy is too
dependent upon the presence of a real or imaginary enemy to engage voters and
distract their attention from the existing problems at home.
During
the Cold War era, the threat from the Soviet Union was utilized to huddle
American allies together against a common enemy as well as to keep the American
public engrossed in perpetual fear of war. And now, policymakers in Washington are consciously
working on creating a new imaginary villain — China — to quench their
psychological thirst for an enemy.
Like many other US politicians, Haley is casting her gaze on the other side of the globe while turning a blind eye to US domestic decay.
Like
many other US politicians, Haley is casting her gaze on the other side of the
globe while turning a blind eye to US domestic decay. It appears that she has
been deeply influenced by the tactics of Donald Trump, who resorts to such
inflammatory tactics to keep engaging his target audience.
Following
in Trump’s footsteps, Haley has been deliberately playing the China card to
attract voters — a trend that is now fast becoming vogue in domestic politics
of many Western countries. We witnessed similar China-bashing by Liz Truss and
Rishi Sunak in the UK when both were competing for the top slot of their party.
Rishi Sunak was particularly insolent in his campaign speeches towards China.
Haley
is playing to the same tune because she thinks it is the most marketable
proposition in the US to win the voters’ support. Obviously, such blunt and
offensive comments attracted a severe reaction from Beijing — and more airtime
for Haley in digital and social media.
Long-term negative impact
At a
time when American politics is also gearing up for a shift from octogenarian
politicians to a relatively younger cohort of politicians, such an infusion of
anti-China will have a very damaging impact in the long run.
Haley may not be able to win her bid for the White House, but she is adding more acrimony and bitterness to American minds through her petty political ploys.
Haley
may not be able to win her bid for the White House, but she is adding more
acrimony and bitterness to American minds through her petty political ploys.
The deliberate efforts to bracket China as “evil” will inversely harm American
interests in the global arena.
The
campaign will not stop here. As the race for the presidential nominations
gathers more steam, we may witness more episodes of China hysteria in American
politics. This new vogue of China-bashing will certainly add more fuel to the
already sour Sino-US ties.
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