Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Minxin Pei — Is Trump’s Trade War with China a Civilizational Conflict?

Recent remarks by a senior Trump administration official suggest that the United States' current approach to China is dangerously misconceived. The rise of China under a one-party dictatorship should be met with a united front in defense of the liberal order, not talk of a clash of Caucasian and non-Caucasian civilizations.…
Of course this is a civilizational conflict. Western imperialism and colonialism were racist at the core — "white-man's burden" and all that— and neoliberalism, neo-imperialism, and neocolonialism are a continuation.

Interestingly, Hitler and the Nazi leadership also conceived their bid for global domination in terms of white supremacy. In fact, the parallel is striking.

While the West/Global North vociferously deny this, the East/Global South view it is as evident.

Project Syndicate
Is Trump’s Trade War with China a Civilizational Conflict?
Minxin Pei | Tom and Margot Pritzker ’72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow, and the inaugural Library of Congress Chair in U.S.-China Relations

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