When Mike Pompeo spoke at the online Copenhagen Democracy Summit last week, there was plenty for European leaders to agree with. The US secretary of state assailed China over everything from its treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang and protesters in Hong Kong, to its misinformation over coronavirus, its use of debt as leverage over developing countries, malicious cybercampaigns and its growing forcefulness on its borders, evidenced by this month’s deadly clash between Chinese and Indian troops.
He urged European nations to “take off the golden blinders” and look beyond economics.
Yet the administration he serves has proved wholly inconsistent on these issues. The idea of the United States retained moral power for many people around the world, despite foreign policy that was often destructive and hypocritical on the ground. Donald Trump’s cynical, erratic and incompetent approach is undermining that.
The new book by the former national security adviser John Bolton describes how Mr Trump has used the very issues cited by Mr Pompeo as “trade bait”: invoked not for their intrinsic importance, but to be bargained away for a better trade deal with China. He claimed that Mr Trump encouraged Xi Jinping to continue the mass incarceration of Uighurs. The obvious divide between China and the US and Europe might be democracy versus dictatorship, but American democracy is in peril. Mr Bolton says the president implored Mr Xi to help him win re-election by buying more US agricultural products. Though animosity is growing between the US and China, and others feel forced to pick a side, the anecdote underscores the flaw in the idea of a new cold war. Both are aggressively capitalist and their economies are so integrated that even significant decoupling will not create wholly distinct spheres of influence.
Under this administration, even the purported values of the US are hazy, and it is impossible to form an alliance without a degree of loyalty or at least consistency. While the US complains about the rise of China, its ascent has been accelerated by Mr Trump’s abandonment of allies and wanton attacks on international institutions. The clash of civilisations narrative evoked when the state department labelled Mr Pompeo’s speech “the CCP should adopt western values” is offensive to Asian nations that have embraced democracy and human rights.
Nor is concern at China’s behaviour confined to the west: its growing might is producing unease in African countries and Latin America too. Yet countries have been too willing to sell out shared long-term interests for short-term unilateral gain. European nations cannot counterbalance China without the US, and many – such as Serbia – show no desire to. Those who wish to challenge China’s human rights abuses or increasing forcefulness must reach out to strengthen bonds globally, including with Asian democracies.
Recent signs of solidarity are welcome, such as the G7’s statement urging China to rethink Hong Kong’s new national security law, and the US’s condemnation of the prosecution of two Canadians effectively held hostage over the detention of the Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Cooperation and coordination is vital, and other nations will need to work with the US as and when they can. But a real partnership may have to wait for another administration.
