When you have a simmering problem that is generally
seen as intractable, it is not wise to think that a single act you may
undertake will help you solve the problem, help put it behind you, and let you
go on with your life as if everything were back to normal … and you’ll have
nothing to worry about.
This said, there are idiosyncratic traits in every
culture that annoy the others, and make it difficult for the culture to
communicate normally with those others. Knowing about these traits and
moderating them, if not suppressing them totally, can go a long way to making
communication easier between the cultures.
You can see the effect of one such American trait when
you study an article that came under the title: “U.S. must deal swiftly with an
assertive China,” and the subtitle: “Beijing hawks push Hong Kong decision and
others that create a U.S.-China collision course.” The article was written by
Joseph R. DeTrani and published on June 4, 2020 in The Washington Times.
Here is how the trait is manifesting itself in the
article: “The hawks in China espouse a negative view of the United States,
claiming that the U.S. wants to contain China.” Claiming, says Detrani? The
Chinese are not claiming; they are pointing the finger at a fact, not a claim.
And you don't have to go far to see that this is the case; it is right there in
the title of the article. Look at it again. What does it mean: “U.S. must deal
swiftly with an assertive China?” Does it mean hug China lovingly or does it
mean contain China? Well, may the Americans understand that this falsification
of reality is a most annoying trait to have.
Just imagine what kind of article DeTrani would have
written, and what conclusion he would have reached, had he started with an
admission formulated along this line: This is what we're doing to the Chinese.
It is what's annoying them. Here is what we can do to alleviate their concerns.
Here is why it is reasonable to expect they’ll react favorably. And that's an
outcome we can live with.
Time after time, you read or hear an American ask a
question that goes something like this: Why don't they understand us? Why do
they hate us? Why we can't see eye to eye with them? The answer is that before
they even know what they will be discussing, let alone how the discussion will
go, the Americans would have boxed themselves into a position that says: if our
interlocutors refuse to accept our facts and our conclusions, they would be
making false assumptions that we must reject outright. And so, the Americans
remain frozen in position, and the next thing they know; they are caught in a
conflict with someone.
And that's precisely what Joseph DeTrani has done in
his article. He first boxed himself in this position: “What China should never
forget is that the United States has core values that transcend geopolitics:
human rights and the rule of law.” Having done this, he went on to tell the
Chinese what is expected of them. Here is a sample of that:
“Before relations deteriorate to the point of economic
decoupling and a cold war, it would seem prudent if China reached out to
discuss the security law and how it would affect the US presence in Hong Kong.
It would also seem appropriate to enter into negotiations to discuss the status
of the trade agreement and the situation in the South China Sea. Hopefully,
China will cease its disinformation campaign with COVID-19 and cooperate with
the US on this and other pandemics”.
So here it is; Joseph DeTrani is sending China the
following message, meant to be an invitation to come and talk: Begin with the
notion that we are good and you are bad. Having done this, come and sit with
us, and we'll tell you what to do to be good enough that we may love you and
accept you as equal.
Unfortunately, however, DeTrani came out and uttered
these words too soon by a day. Had he waited till the next day, June 5, 2020,
he would have been a lot wiser, and would have written a different article. He
would have done so, because on that day, he would have read an article that
came under the title: “How America's Credibility Gap Hurts the Defense of
Rights Abroad,” written by David J. Scheffer and published on the website of
the Council on Foreign Relations. It is a long article whose introduction
condenses as follows:
“'America the irrelevant' is the message that the
United States risks conveying in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, economic
collapse, and racism dominating 2020. Even before these events, Washington was
hardly the beacon of stellar governance. But it is fresh incidents of racism, a
problem in American society for hundreds of years, that harms US credibility
abroad”.
In saying that America “risks conveying” instead of
asserting that America already conveys an unfavorable image of itself to the
world, Scheffer is being generous or naive because the reality is that the
world has given up on America some time ago.
When it comes to socioeconomic projects considered
essential to the continued advancement of Civilization, no one in his right
mind believes that America is capable of making a positive contribution in this
field.
At the same time, however, no one ignores America for
the reason that no one would ignore a mentally unstable vagrant holding an
explosive device in his hand.