China Is a Problem. But We Don’t Need a New Cold War.

China is definitely an adversary, but it isn’t really an ideological competitor the way the Soviet Union was.

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It’s easy to miss, given how polarized our politics are, but there is a growing consensus around a very big issue: China. 

Foreign policy experts, military leaders and politicians across the ideological spectrum all tend to agree that a new era of confrontation with China has begun. Many on the right have been calling for a Cold War approach to China for a while now. But the idea, if not always the term “Cold War,” is widely held among Democrats, too. President-elect Joe Biden, once dismissive about the Chinese threat, now concedes that the country poses a “special challenge” to the U.S. 

It’s worth dispelling a common misunderstanding. Just because there’s a broad consensus around an issue doesn’t mean people won’t fight about it. 

Indeed, some of the greatest political fights are driven by broad agreement on a problem. The best illustration of this point was the Cold War itself.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Earl King

    Well said. Generals always fight the last war. It will be different. Whether we should call it a Cold War is of little difference to the consensus of what to do about it. Sadly there are still "free traders" who think trade with China has brought prosperity to the US.
    Trade with China is a little like leaving the jewelry store door open when you leave at night. We invited them to come and attend our Universities and employed them in the fields they generally pursue. Business or Science.
    We are being raped, similarly to what the Japanese did to Nanking. We ignore it....because we get cheap shit at Wal Mart...Oblivious to being raped. China has despicable trade practices. We mistake their smiles as friendly business competition without understanding they don't like us. In fact they want to take away everything we have. To believe otherwise is a naiveté of breathtaking
    proportions. The Chinese or the CCP do not wish us well. They are following a path they believe is their destiny. Actual War is too costly these days for both. Let's call this what it is...It is an Economic War....China is buying and stealing its way to economic hegemony over the globe.

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  2. CatoTheElder

    Took a bit to get there, Jonah, but you didn’t take us very far.

    To summarize: China is big, and powerful, and becoming bigger and more powerful. Its nature, methods, and aims are unique, and as so, quite different from that of the old USSR, though there are some nationalistic/racist parallels with the fascists of Europe from a century ago. But not really enough to be highly instructive. China’s goals and objectives are distinctly Chinese. Those goals and objectives often conflict rather harshly with the goals and objectives of the US. All this makes for a new, complex, even “interesting” type of conflict between China—and in particular the CCP—and the US. In this fight, we shouldn’t rely upon what worked last time. (Especially if whatever it was didn’t work last time.)

    “If you’ll notice, Kevin, there was a lot of motion before the snap, all coming out of a complex formation on the part of the Americans, intended to get us and the defense thinking something new is coming, but once the ball was snapped, it turned into a simple off-tackle dive for no gain. I think one could argue that the defense was actually maybe a bit confused by all the motion, but in their confusion, they just stuck to their original assignments, and it all worked out fine for them. So, no gain on the play. I think they’re gonna have to be more creative than that to move the ball today.”

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  3. Avatar photo
    Narwhal

    Aren’t we already in a Cold War with China, and Russia too? Except for proxy wars our current situation seems to be the definition of a Cold War. Is this one different than the one with the Soviets? Obviously.

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  4. Avatar photo
    BWG

    "immiserated". That's a 2¢ word dude. I challenge you to work "onomatopoeia" into your next column, and it can't be contrived. That would be worth 10¢. I'd challenge you to "antidisestablishmentarianism" but given the Dispatch's focus that would be too easy.

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    1. Avatar photo
      BWG

      And I double dog dare you to work in ""floccinaucinihilipilification.

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  5. Major Monogram

    As others have done better than I would have, your ambivalence to the Chinese threat is disconcerting. Control of supply chains, and overt influence on debt and the dollar are mortal threats.

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    Will Bates

    I’m not saying you’re wrong, Jonah, but it seems to me the relationship dynamic is a bit simpler than that.

    In the true Cold War, neither party needed the other. In fact, thevonly thing that kept one another from war was the threat of mutual physical destruction.

    With China, each truly does need the other. China needs the U.S. to keep buying stuff: the U.S. needs China to keep making it.

    The trouble comes when China successfully diversifies its demand base. Once China no longer needs U.S. trade, the endgame is nigh.

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  7. Avatar photo
    George.Skinner

    We've lived with a bipolar or unipolar post-WW2 world for so long that we've forgotten what Great Power competition in a multipolar world looks like. In fact, today's world is a bit like the European powers prior to WW1. The US is Britain, a dominant power whose preeminence is fading as other powers increase their relative strength. The European Union fills the role of France, a major power although with a weak government. China is much like Germany - a rising economic power with an authoritarian government and broader ambitions to catch up to existing powers. Russia is more like Austria-Hungary - a formerly great power, now trying to maintain relevance by acting aggressively. The power game is much more complex than the Cold War. A big difference is the existence of nuclear weapons. A major confrontation is much more dangerous than a century ago, which both makes the powers more cautious and also raises the stakes if things go badly.

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    Pat Riot

    The good news is the Russia and China no longer want to destroy us.

    The BAD news is that they want us nice and alive so they can continually steal from us.

    But Mr. Goldberg is right: we no longer have "ideological" competitors like we did back in the day. Russia and China aren't "communism" or any other identifiable ideology--they are just dictatorships. There's no reason to describe them any other way.

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  9. Nathan

    all of this without mentioning the Uighurs? more sanctions are needed for there human rights violations.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Butch Earl

    Awesome! Hear, hear!
    Another difference between China and the Soviet Union is the history of the relationship between the United States and the two countries is vastly different. In the past, China has been a friend and an ally. The Russians have been an ally; they've never been a friend. If we can get our heads out of polemic political fantasy land and deal with China in the real world by working with them where we can and confronting them where we must we can be successful in containing them without a new climate of appeasement or a new era of needless American bloodshed.

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