Thoughts
So many conflicts arise due to a clash between long-held, systemic, structural beliefs held and institutionalized by individuals.
The conflict between the United States and China embodies this notion. Deeply entrenched collective beliefs reinforce layer upon layer of behaviors and norms. Like silt piling up at the bottom of a river or stream.
As China and the United States continue to evolve as both superpowers and as constructs, it’s important to understand the ways in which these two entities manage to find synthesis and the ways in which these two entities contradict and run into conflict.
Cultural and social conflicts are not inevitable. The foundation of American society and political culture is more robust when Americans retain faith in long-held institutions and democratic norms.
Cultural self confidence breeds self-confidence in the state’s ability to serve the needs of its citizens. Trumpism represents a destablizing force when undermines American cultural self-confience and broader confidence in cherished institutions such as democracy, rule of law, and capitalism.
Trumpism offers anarchy without a solution. Undermining American cultural self-confidence is an end in itself. Periods of cultural diffidence breed perceptions that external enemies are growing both more numerous and more powerful.
Trumpism undermines undermines the totality of the American social fabric, challenges the efficacy of long-standing institutions, and debases the value system of every American citizen. The same way sleep deprivation debases the circadian rhythm of every cell in the human body. It’s all connected.
US-China Relations
Key Taiwan Tech Firms Helping Huawei With China Chip Plants (Bloomberg)
Several Taiwanese technology companies are helping Huawei Technologies Co. build infrastructure for an under-the-radar network of chip plants across southern China, an unusual collaboration that risks inflaming sentiment on a democratic island grappling with Beijing’s growing belligerence.
China Is Suffering a Brain Drain. The U.S. Isn’t Exploiting It. (New York Times)
“I left China because I didn’t like the social and political environment,” said Chen Liangshi, 36, who worked on artificial intelligence projects at Baidu and Alibaba, two of China’s biggest tech companies, before leaving the country in early 2020. He made the decision after China abolished the term limit for the presidency in 2018, a move that allowed its top leader, Xi Jinping, to stay in power indefinitely.
The US Warns of a Chinese Global Disinformation Campaign That Could Undermine Peace and Stability (Associated Press)
The Global Engagement Center, a State Department agency that’s tasked with combating foreign propaganda and disinformation and that released the 58-page report, warned that Beijing’s information campaign could eventually sway how decisions are made around the world and undermine U.S. interests.
“Unchecked, the (Chinese government’s) information manipulation could in many parts of the world diminish freedom to express views critical of Beijing,” said Jamie Rubin, who heads the center. He said Beijing’s efforts could “transform the global information landscape and damage the security and stability of the United States, its friends, and partners.”
Photo by Mahdi Bafande on Unsplash