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It’s all very well for the governments of U.S. and China to demonize each other, but what about the people caught in the middle?
I’m talking about Chinese people who have built their lives in America and Americans who have made theirs in China. Or Chinese and Americans who are married to each other and the children of those marriages. What about American employees of Chinese companies and vice versa? Or students, academics, and professionals whose careers depend on meaningful exchange? How about the medical experts on both sides, whose collaboration is essential to understanding COVID-19?
There are American expats who can curse in vivid, near-native Mandarin and Chinese students who binge-watch American TV and regard Starbucks as a second home. There are people like Eileen Gu and people like me—Hong Kong-born, Western-educated, with many American friends. Maybe this even applies to you.
Read More: The U.S. and China Must Act Now to Avoid a Disastrous War
We are now caught up in the crosshairs of great power politics and we hate the way each side sees the other as always wrong. It’s a bit like being a child again and watching your folks fight.
Like the loudmouth parent trying to pick an argument, America whitewashes its own failures while pushing the button it knows will hurt most: Taiwan. (A tendency, incidentally, that does not benefit the people of Taiwan.) Like the other parent in the corner, alternately sullen and histrionic, China refuses to believe that it has a case to answer over its conduct of technology transfers or its overseas influence operations.
The lack of nuance, context, historical understanding, cultural insight, basic intelligence and plain goodwill in Sino-U.S. relations pains us. Many among us reject the low-brow framing of good versus evil,…
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Source : time
