Trust and hegemony: Whither the China-US relations

Trust counts as a significant factor in international politics, especially in determining who to work with, and China-US relations fits within the trust framework as far as bilateral and global power politics is concerned.

The more states trust each other the better the chances for cooperation, and vice versa. This especially applies to security issues between countries.

Trust is built through long-term cooperation as exemplified by the alliances during the interwar period and the later emergence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact representing the western and eastern power blocs during the Cold War.

The same paradigm appears to shape China-US relations as far as security is concerned following the recent US accusations targeting China over the alleged ‘balloon’ surveillance on the United States some weeks ago.

But the use of airship is commonplace in weather monitoring and related research, and that the US downing of the ‘balloon’ using missiles was an obvious overreaction in nonconformity to international norms.

While the ‘balloon’ incident may appear as an anomaly to most people around the world, the truth remains that the United States uses the technology and many other methods far more in its surveillance endeavours in many countries, especially in China.

This demonstrates the United States’ abuse of its hegemonic status by playing double standards in treating countries belonging to ‘the West’ – including the European Union and other allies who depend on it security-wise – versus ‘the rest’ who don’t belong to or seem to challenge its ideals.

Recently, a 4000—word report by China’s Xinhua News Agency exposes American misbehaviour on the global political, military, economic, scientific, and cultural stages, drawing greater attention to the US abuse of hegemony and how it destabilises global peace and the well-being of all peoples.

In its continued pursuit of new power avenues and defence of its already existing influence, the United States is probably the top spying country in the world collecting information used either in strengthening its own or compromising the security of other states. In its espionage, the United States has been using civilian aircrafts in disguise to collect information for military use. It also uses other sea-going vessels for similar purposes.

According to MizarVision, a Chinese technology company, ‘In 2022, the US military carried out close-in reconnaissance operations in South China Sea over 600 times using spy planes.’

Similar surveillance activities also took place in the East China Sea and other areas, making the number to go up beyond the official statistics given above. The US is also known for using obsolete strategies of blame-game and cheap politics in blackmailing China as its rival amid the former’s diminishing economic prowess it has held since the post-war era.

This includes meddling in China’s internal affairs such as the Taiwan and Hong Kong questions, clearly violating international law which forbids states from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.

The US attacks on China come in many forms – political, economic, security and many others, including tarnishing its human rights records based on fake claims such as suppressing freedom of information and worship on the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

The Uyghur and many other accusations the US capitalises on regarding China’s human rights record are raised without recognising China’s efforts to impart essential skills, education, and awareness that would empower the people in fighting poverty as well as help the country to fend off terrorist threats caused by religious extremism.

More obviously, the US has been inciting unrest in some of these territories without regard to China’s sovereignty and international law.

Last year, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, flew to Taiwan accompanied by war planes recognizing the illegal territorial sovereignty of Taiwan.

The trip was followed by another one in which several US senators and members of the House of Representatives flew into the island in clear violation of the Chinese and international law. As if the concoction of such records is not enough, the US has been using blame tactics to hide its own overt and covert offense as far as its relations with China are concerned.

It has been pointing fingers at others without any evidence as a way of diverting its people’s attention on internal troubles including racial tensions which have resulted in numerous deaths of African Americans and other people of colour.

By considering China as its strategic rival, the US seems to operate on a post-war mentality by encouraging divisions rather than unity among nations in the highly interconnected multipolar world.

Instead of focusing on rivalry, perhaps it is high time for the United States to think of power using a different terminology, expanding its mindset beyond that of east-west Cold War mentality that dominated global politics up until the late 1980s.

The US might want to reinvigorate its manufacturing sector to create more employment opportunities and care more about its own people rather than diverting their attention from internal problems amid drowning economy and racial tensions.

Doing so will help restore the withering trust of the American people on their government, and focusing on containment of a rising global power will only produce the opposite effect in this regard.