Highbrow Magazine - diplomacy https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/diplomacy en Why the Taiwan Question Matters https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/17063-why-taiwan-question-matters <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 11/08/2021 - 11:03</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1taiwan.jpg?itok=4C0-EeUB"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1taiwan.jpg?itok=4C0-EeUB" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Support for Taiwan is not only motivated by ideological commitment to democracy, but also because Taiwan is strategically important. If China seized Taiwan, it would hold both sides of the Taiwan Strait, demanding sovereignty over the international shipping lanes between. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This has already happened in the disputed <a href="https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/u-s-navy-increases-activity-in-the-south-china-sea" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Spratly Islands</a>, where China issued <a href="https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/maritime-security/china-stokes-anxiety-with-new-maritime-law/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">new maritime rules</a> that certain types of foreign vessels had to notify the Chinese maritime authority before sailing through. The annexation of Taiwan would embolden the PRC to claim the South China Sea and parts of the Indo-Pacific region. This would give Beijing <a href="https://chinapower.csis.org/much-trade-transits-south-china-sea/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">control over 60%</a> of the world’s maritime shipping. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">It is the 50th anniversary of the PRC replacing Taiwan <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/24/us-wants-to-help-taiwan-participate-meaningfully-in-un-as-china-prepares-to-mark-key-anniversary" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">as China’s representative</a> to the United Nations. U.S. and Taiwanese officials are meeting to find a way that Taiwan can meaningfully participate in the U.N. and the WHO, but the PRC objects, as it claims Taiwan as a province --  which it has vowed to rule. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">On China’s National Day, the PRC sent 25 warplanes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/09/world/asia/united-states-china-taiwan.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">into Taiwanese airspace</a>. On Taiwan’s National Day, which falls 10 days later, President Xi Jinping vowed “reunification.” While Xi often spouts “peaceful reunification,” experts around the world agree that a declaration of independence by Taiwan or recognition by the U.S. could easily trigger a war. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2taiwan.jpg" style="height:450px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In a recent speech, President Joe Biden said the U.S. <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/strategic-ambiguity-on-taiwan-apparent-as-white-house-walks-back-biden-comments-teaser-after-the-president-says-the-us-is-committed-to-defending-the-island-beijing-warns-the-us-against-encouraging-taiwan-independence-/6282502.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">would defend Taiwan</a>. The White House later walked the statement back, to one of strategic ambiguity, the status quo that has been in effect for decades. The official Taiwan policy of the U.S. government is called the One China Policy, meaning that the U.S. recognizes Taiwan as part of China, but the U.S. does not voice an official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In spite of the U.S. not recognizing Taiwan as an independent nation, the U.S.-Taiwan Relations Act commits the U.S. to making “available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services…to enable Taiwan to maintain <a href="https://www.ait.org.tw/our-relationship/policy-history/key-u-s-foreign-policy-documents-region/taiwan-relations-act/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">sufficient self-defense capabilities</a>.” This means that the U.S. sells weapons to Taiwan.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The U.S. officially removed its troops from Taiwan in 1979, after closing its embassy. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump moved the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the U.S. representative office, into a massive compound, on the site of the original U.S. embassy. Among the new staff were several <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3004910/us-prepares-open-new-de-facto-embassy-taipei-amid-policy-shift" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">uniformed military personnel</a>. Additionally, U.S. naval patrols in the waters around Taiwan increased under the previous administration, and continue under <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3046595/taiwan-election-hong-kong-won-it-beijing-lost-it" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">the Biden administration</a>. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Arms sales have also increased over the past five years. In 2020 alone, the Trump administration <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54641076" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">approved $1.8 billion</a> in arms sales to Taiwan. This year, the Biden administration has proposed an additional <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/04/politics/biden-administration-taiwan-arms-sales/index.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">$750 million</a><u> in sales</u>. Recently, it was discovered that U.S. military forces have been in Taiwan, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-troops-have-been-deployed-in-taiwan-for-at-least-a-year-11633614043" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">training Taiwanese troops</a> for over a year. The Biden administration has not condemned the deployment of U.S. troops to Taiwan.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3taiwan.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Taiwanese President Tsai Ying-Wen, a popular, pro-independence leader who has been elected to her second term, has thanked the U.S. and other Western countries for their support. She gave a speech on National Day, saying, “We will not <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58860365" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">bow to China</a><u>.</u>” Taiwan is firmly committed to remaining independent, but is careful not to declare independence. While the U.S. military support for Taiwan is intentionally vague, one thing has been made clear over the decades: the U.S. is not obligated to fight for Taiwan if Taiwan declares independence unilaterally. Taiwan would have to get consensus from the U.S. before declaring independence. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Beyond an ideological commitment to democracy, supporting Taiwan is a significant part of the U.S.’s <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Asia policy</a>. Maintaining freedom and stability in the region is predicated on Taiwan remaining independent of China. Currently, the U.S. maintains troops in Thailand, the Philippines, and Guam, with the largest troop strengths in Japan and South Korea. Additionally, the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet conducts “<a href="https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/u-s-navy-increases-activity-in-the-south-china-sea" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Freedom of Navigation</a> Operations” (FONOPs) in the South China Sea. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Countries that have maritime disputes with the PRC in the South China Sea include Brunei, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam -- none of whom is strong enough to stand up to the People’s Liberation Army Navy. In addition to issues of territorial sovereignty, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/territorial-disputes-south-china-sea" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">$3.37 trillion in cargo</a> passes through the region, including 40 percent of the world’s liquefied natural gas. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Japan also has a territorial dispute with China, while New Zealand and Australia have a strong interest in maintaining freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific. To this end, the Five Eyes alliance was formed, comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., as well as AUKUS, which includes Australia, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., and finally, the Quad, composed of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia. All three organizations are dedicated to containing China. And that containment is made much easier by maintaining a free Taiwan, with freedom of movement in Taiwanese waters and airspace. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1xiping_kremlin-wikimedia.jpg" style="height:371px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">China, of course, opposes <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-23/why-the-aukus-quad-and-five-eyes-pacts-anger-china-quicktake" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">all three alliances</a>, saying “Five Eyes could be poked blind if <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1207378.shtml" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">China’s sovereignty</a> and security are harmed.” By sovereignty, of course, it means Taiwan. Not only does China resent the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, but even registered “<a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-05/20/c_139072717.htm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">strong indignation</a>” when the U.S. president called to congratulate President Tsai Ying-Wen on her second election victory. The Chinese Communist Party sees any positive engagement with Taiwan as an infringement on its sovereignty. As China’s only officially ally, North Korea echoed the Communist Party line, issuing a statement that the U.S. should <a href="https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4323453" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">stop supporting Taiwan</a>. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Under <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/china-military-force-taiwan-diplomacy-1507263" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">China’s Anti-Session Law</a>, the PRC claims the legal authority to take Taiwan by force. Liu Weidong, a U.S. affairs specialist from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said “China cannot accept any country to develop <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3153515/us-and-taiwanese-officials-meet-discuss-meaningful-un-role" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">official relations</a> with Taiwan.” He then went to say that there was a general trend of countries increasing their engagement with Taiwan, issuing a vague threat to those who dared support the island nation.  </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Antonio Graceffo is a Ph.D., and also holds a China-MBA from Shanghai Jiaotong University. He works as an economics professor and China economic analyst, writing for various international media. Some of his books include: </strong><em><strong>The Wrestler’s Dissertation,, Warrior Odyssey, Beyond the Belt </strong></em><strong>and</strong><em><strong> Road: China’s Global Economic Expansion, and A Short Course on the Chinese Economy.</strong></em></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><a href="https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=332206&amp;picture=flag-of-the-republic-of-china-taiwan" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>PublicDomainPictures</em></a><em> (Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><a href="https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-jmbzm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Pxfuel</em></a><em> (Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tsai_Ing-wen_and_Ma_Ying-jeou_on_the_2017_Summer_Universiade.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia</em></a><em> (Creative Commons</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em> The Kremlin (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xi_Jinping_(2017-07-07).jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/taiwan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Taiwan</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">China</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chinese-communist-party" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chinese Communist Party</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tsai-ying-wen" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Tsai Ying-Wen</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ruling-taiwan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ruling Taiwan</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/xi-ping" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">xi ping</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">president biden</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/diplomacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">diplomacy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-and-china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">U.S. and China</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Antonio Graceffo</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 08 Nov 2021 16:03:09 +0000 tara 10733 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/17063-why-taiwan-question-matters#comments President Biden Promises More Successful Diplomacy and Foreign Policy https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12450-president-biden-promises-more-successful-diplomacy-and-foreign-policy <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 08/03/2021 - 13:46</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1joejillbiden_adam_schultz_bidenforpresident.jpg?itok=ULwrYFF8"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1joejillbiden_adam_schultz_bidenforpresident.jpg?itok=ULwrYFF8" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Following the tragedy of World War II, the United States took on a world leadership role, doing everything possible to guard against future tyranny and human misery. We did not do this alone. Until recently, the U.S. has always sought to create and support enduring alliances, to form partnerships of common interest against threats to our security, our hope of prosperity, and the health of our planet.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">After four years of a narrow, isolationist foreign policy, combined with a reluctance to push back on Vladimir Putin and other autocratic regimes, the international community is hoping for a re-engaged United States—one that is willing to be an international leader once again.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/kellyhymanbook.jpg" style="height:584px; width:390px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Promises</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Biden has promised to lead with diplomacy once again and to repair relationships with U.S. allies, particularly the NATO alliance. After four years of Trump’s erratic foreign policies, European leaders are confident in President Biden’s leadership but also believe that the U.S. political system needs to undergo major changes or be reformed altogether.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Biden has maintained that the restoration of America’s reputation is to lead by example, both domestically and in concert with our allies. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The United States must lead not just with the example of power, but the power of our example,” he said. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also said, “The most profound national security challenge facing the United States is getting our own house in order, is domestic renewal.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">For Biden and his team, the ultimate purpose of foreign policy is to make life better for our own citizens and to respect the rights of other countries to do the same. What he rejects is Trump’s nationalism and isolationism when it comes to international trade and the give-and-take of global alliances.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">What this means is that to rebuild American global power, the United States must start by getting the pandemic under control, which means recognizing its international nature and strengthening the crushed U.S. economy with investments in technology and infrastructure. This, coupled with a substantive recommitment to traditional allies and a firm-but-fair stance with our adversaries, will help the world believe that we still deserve the title of superpower.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1joebidenandkamalaharris_whitehouse.jpg" style="height:450px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Accomplishments</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Biden’s first one hundred days have been dominated by the COVID-19 crisis and the push to restore American infrastructure. That said, he has sent a strong signal—strengthening old alliances and taking tougher stances on aggressor nations—by appointing a seasoned diplomat, Anthony Blinken, to head the State Department.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">To underscore his focus on re-establishing alliances, Biden’s first announced overseas trip will be the G7 summit in Cornwall, England. There has been some anxiety in the U.K. over Biden’s Irish heritage and whose “side” he is likely to favor in the Brexit debacle, but Biden’s peacemaking efforts during the Reagan administration tell a different story. Many expect him to lead by diplomacy although he has taken some tough stances internationally. With advance notice to Turkish President Edrogan, Biden officially acknowledged that the 1915 killings of Armenians in Turkey was, in fact, genocide, a move that no previous president had been willing to make.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Some of Biden’s “tough but fair” moves have involved U.S. adversaries, notably the Russian Federation. In April 2021, he ordered new economic sanctions on Russia in response to its election interference, aggression against Ukraine, offering bounties on U.S. troops, and their cyberattacks on U.S. government networks.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Regarding China, Biden described his relationship with President Xi Jinping as “cordial” but acknowledged concerns over rights abuses and expects to compete with China on multiple levels such as trade, technology, and military power. He has also addressed China’s growing dominance in Iran, warning the Xi government that the U.S. will enforce Trump administration sanctions on Iranian oil—which China is increasingly buying. While Biden expects no changes in Xi, he strongly believes that to confront China internationally, we must first fix our own country and call on our allies more often.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Under Biden, American policy toward North Korea will focus on working with allies to pressure the Kim Jong Un government toward denuclearization. Although Biden considers North Korea a major foreign policy issue, he also said he would not pursue “personal diplomacy” with Kim. Such an approach should only happen if it was part of an actual strategy that advanced the prospects for denuclearization.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The Middle East presents a long list of complex challenges, beginning with Iran and its nuclear and regional ambitions. Early on, Biden declared he wants to find a way to bring Iran back to the bargaining table, but it will be a hard sell politically and will make Israel nervous. However, Biden has also shown his willingness to respond to Iranian aggression by authorizing surgical strikes against Iranian-backed militias in Syria. So we can expect continuing low-level conflict as the U.S. and Iran compete for influence while trying to find a nuclear solution that would benefit both.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Challenges in Middle East policy will persist long after Biden’s first one hundred days, but he has already taken initiatives that his predecessors would not. On April 14, he announced that, in conjunction with NATO forces, the United States would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. He has also signaled to traditional Middle Eastern allies that they can still be friends with the U.S., but that such dealings will require more concessions to American interests—and more accountability for their behavior on human rights.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>This is an excerpt from Kelly Hyman’s new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Build-Back-Better-Administration-Beyond/dp/1637550898/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&amp;keywords=build+back+better&amp;qid=1624297685&amp;sr=8-9" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Build Back Better: The First 100 Days of the Biden Administration, and Beyond</a> (Amplify Publishing). It’s published here with permission.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Kelly Hyman is an attorney, television commentator, legal analyst, and Democratic strategist. She has appeared on BBC, ABC, NBC LX,  CBS, NBC,  Law &amp; Crime, CourtTV, Sky News, I24News, Fox News, and numerous local affiliates.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Hyman was born in Miami Beach. She was raised by a single mother in New York City and in Southern California. There, she became a child actor, a voice actor, and later appeared in television shows, The Young and the Restless and Getting There, as well as off-Broadway in New York and in a movie with Batman star Adam West.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>After earning her law degree from the University of Florida College of Law, Kelly served as president of the Federal Bar, Palm Beach Chapter, volunteered for President Obama’s election and reelection, and served as a poll watcher to protect voter rights during the presidential election. </em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--WhiteHouse.gov (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joe_Biden,_Kamala_Harris_(collage).jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Adam Schultz (Biden For President, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/183493676@N07/50225852586" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Flickr</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Amplify Publishing</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joe biden</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kamala-harris" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">kamala harris</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/anthony-blinken" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">anthony blinken</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-foreign-policy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">U.S. foreign policy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/diplomacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">diplomacy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/state-department" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">State Department</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/european-allies" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">european allies</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/russia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Russia</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vladimir-putin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">vladimir putin</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">China</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/xi-ping" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">xi ping</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">president biden</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Kelly Hyman</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 03 Aug 2021 17:46:21 +0000 tara 10550 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12450-president-biden-promises-more-successful-diplomacy-and-foreign-policy#comments The Modern Presidency: Wherefore Art Thou, American Legislature? https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11253-modern-presidency-wherefore-art-thou-american-legislature <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 02/09/2021 - 10:35</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1congress.jpg?itok=kc61thYp"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1congress.jpg?itok=kc61thYp" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>Opinion:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>One of the important takeaways from this presidential election and its aftermath, more than the win or loss and explanations of why, has to do with the perception of the top office's importance and the gravity of the executive office.</p> <p> </p> <p>In one sense, it's easy to see voters caring about the down-ballot races. The number of undervoted ballots, where only the top race is voted, actually <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/nov/20/sidney-powell/sidney-powell-claim-450000-votes-were-only-biden-k/" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">declined</a> in several key swing states. It's an easy measure of voters viewing the office of the presidency as more important than everything else on the ballot.</p> <p> </p> <p>Even though these numbers have dropped, we see other areas in which concern over the scale and scope of the presidency lurks behind charged partisan rhetoric. Be it Glenn Beck's nonsensical concerns of a dictatorship arising from the nascent Obama administration in 2008; the fears of Donald Trump crashing through norms that seemed, for much of 2017 and 2018, to hit the pages of <em>The Washington Post </em>weekly; or the most recent claim, by Scott Adams, that the Republican Party will never win another presidential election because of its recent loss, the consequences of a change in the inhabitant of the Oval Office have been regularly overstated by the media. A fever pitch is reached by one media group, loosely affiliated with partisans of one side, when the other's candidate of choice wins.</p> <p> </p> <p>What's missing is a reflective look at what causes this fever pitch -- in extreme and dangerous tones with potentially real consequences.</p> <p> </p> <p>A flashpoint of this contention has been the executive order. Most notably, President Obama's <a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/01/20/263766043/wielding-a-pen-and-a-phone-obama-goes-it-alone" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">statement</a> that “I've got a pen and I've got a phone,” which covered more than actions requiring the secrecy and dispatch that other areas in which the presidency is accorded a freer hand, namely foreign policy: “Helping to make sure our kids are getting the best education possible, making sure that our businesses are getting the kind of support and help they need to grow and advance, to make sure that people are getting the skills that they need to get those jobs that our businesses are creating.”</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1obama_obamawhitehousearchives.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Reader, please note: All these require definition, as explained in Harold Lasswell’s book, <em>Politics: Who Gets What, When, How</em>. What is the best education? What environments require what kind of support? If you're wondering where the legislature comes into the picture, this is exactly where it ought to: these are choices regarding who gets what, when, and how, typically seen as the province of the political — and, as such, a question to be deliberated in the legislature.</p> <p> </p> <p>It's easy to critique President Obama for this. We know what comes next. But even when Donald Trump did become president, no major effort was made to curtail executive power via the legislature. For obvious reasons, the Republicans made no effort; on the other side of the aisle, the efforts took a more litigious form. The political branches brought problems to the third branch, the federal courts.</p> <p> </p> <p>At their least effective, lawsuits used Trump's motivation to act as a vector for the travel ban; they also appeared to offer complications only when moving in one direction on DACA. No efforts were made to lower the stakes of a change in executive orders through legislation, nor were any major deals made.</p> <p> </p> <p>It's possible to say nobody has been good at wheeling and dealing since John Boehner was all but chased off Capitol Hill by his own caucus. Instead, the public was treated to the spectacle of political branches attempting to rope the courts into their quests.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/trumpillustration_michael_bechetti_0.jpg" style="height:526px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Pen-and-phone constitutionalism has a sort of addictive quality to it. Despite having a majority in the House and a tiebreaking potential in the Senate, we still witness <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/6-state-attorneys-general-warn-biden-over-potential-presidential-overreach_3674617.html" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">President Biden taking actions</a> on his own initiative, rather than attempting a more durable change through coaxing the legislature into action.</p> <p> </p> <p>Some might claim such an effort is necessary to avoid obstruction in the legislature, particularly the Senate, but this strikes at a fundamental problem: an inability to negotiate and bargain, perhaps a lack of prioritization of platform planks.</p> <p> </p> <p>The “missing-in-action” legislature is a late disappointment in American politics, especially considering its original design. Successfully lowering the stakes of presidential races will require more input from the legislative branch, particularly a more active, detail-oriented role in making the rules and regulations that affect Americans’ day-to-day lives.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Adam Gravano is a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>Lawrence Jackson (Whitehouse.gov, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Obama_Health_Care_Speech_to_Joint_Session_of_Congress.jpg" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>Sonya N. Hebert (Obama White House Archives, <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/01/21/second-inauguration-barack-obama" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">Creative Commons</a>)</em></p> <p><em>Illustration by Michael Bechetti for Highbrow Magazine</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress-persons" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress persons</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politicians" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politicians</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-legislature" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american legislature</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american government</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joe biden</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/diplomacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">diplomacy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/executive-orders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">executive orders</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Adam Gravano</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:35:05 +0000 tara 10154 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11253-modern-presidency-wherefore-art-thou-american-legislature#comments Mikhail Gorbachev Warns Us About What Is at Stake https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10976-mikhail-gorbachev-warns-us-about-what-stake <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 10/21/2020 - 09:56</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1gorbachevreagan_regan_library_-_wikimedia.jpg?itok=qQccghfl"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1gorbachevreagan_regan_library_-_wikimedia.jpg?itok=qQccghfl" width="480" height="296" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>There are few things as eminently forgettable as books authored by — or, to be too honest in all too many cases, ghost-written for — politicians on the hustings. Maybe books by cable news pundits make an admirable attempt to compete for this. One shouldn't attach any contempt to this label; it just seems a fact of life.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the arena of books by politicians, though, there is a special status, in my opinion, accorded to books by those now or, better yet, a few years retired. Seeing history unfold after one's actions and being separated from the day-to-day struggles of public life can provide a clear perspective, particularly regarding what becomes important over time when held against what is considered important at the time of decision.</p> <p> </p> <p>We see this in bold relief in Henry Paulson's <em>Dealing With China</em>, where Paulson describes how currency issues topped the list of public priorities, but so much more was potentially up for discussion — if only public pressure allowed his administration to move past it all. Another notable set of opportunities comes in the space between Henry Kissinger's assessments of the Vietnam War when he was in government and, decades later, when he was writing <em>Diplomacy</em>.</p> <p> </p> <p>Although the retrospective offers one set of lessons for the reader, when the former statesman uses that experience to offer suggestions for the prospective, he takes full advantage of any accrued credibility and insight. This also says nothing of any potentially therapeutic value of being consulted by one's successors in office. These conversations can happen privately, as between former President Richard Nixon and then-President Bill Clinton, but they can also happen in a more public venue. Such a public conversation is Mikhail Gorbachev's <em>What Is at Stake Now </em>(Polity Press).</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2gorbachev.jpg" style="height:600px; width:383px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Gorbachev is at his strongest, particularly in his discussions of the need to continue demilitarizing and de-escalating international politics. Part of this plan for de-escalation involves the continuation of nuclear disarmament. For all its near misses, though, one is tempted to hold the absence of a “shooting war” between major states a victory of Mutually Assured Destruction. Certainly, this is a lofty goal that could lower the stakes for several geopolitical issues, and one must remember that more nuclear players increase the risks of accidents, all of which carry a risk of fatality.</p> <p> </p> <p>Much of Gorbachev's discussion hinges on East-West relations, particularly between Russia and the United States. This is logical, as certain interests of pre-Soviet Russia were taken up by the Soviet Union, and, post-Soviet collapse, these same interests were transferred to the nascent Russian Federation (and carried on to the present).</p> <p> </p> <p>While there is a brief chapter covering both China and India, with a brief discussion of Malaysia included, the discussion borders on the facile. No analysis of India and Pakistan's on-again/off-again conflict makes any appearance in conversations regarding denuclearization, nor is there any examination of the China-India-Pakistan border region and potential solutions to the tripartite tensions.</p> <p> </p> <p>While there's only so much that can be included in a 123-page essay, the discussion obscures as much as it reveals, perhaps leaving this part of the book outclassed by Robert D. Kaplan's <em>Monsoon</em> and <em>Asia's Cauldron</em>.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3gorbachev_yuryi_abramochkin_-_ria_novosti_-wikimedia.jpg" style="height:600px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Alongside denuclearization, ample time is devoted to the most pressing point of conflict between former Cold War adversaries: Ukraine and NATO expansion. While some might find the discussions of an eastwardly expanding NATO and the European Union to be largely favorable to the concerns of Russia and Vladimir Putin, it's important to realize these concerns are not exactly exclusive to Russians and Western russophiles. Most notably, in 2014, as the Ukraine Conflict was well underway, John J. Mearsheimer took to the pages of <em>Foreign Affairs </em>to inform the Western world, “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West's Fault.” One should further consider just what position this leaves a U.S. electorate that may be less inclined to pursue adventure abroad than members of the foreign policy elite.</p> <p> </p> <p>Reading this book was much like visiting with an old and trustworthy friend. You catch up and talk about what's happening now; maybe you even get to future plans --  but often it all ties back to a past that is shared, albeit remembered differently by each party. Much like the best of these conversations, the book is not a hectoring jeremiad nor an extended lamentation. With its easily digestible length, it's the reader's equivalent of an afternoon meal with a bit of lingering after you've finished eating — and just as pleasurable.</p> <p>           </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Adam Gravano is a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Polity Press</em></p> <p><em>--Yuryi Abramochkin (Ria Novosti, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RIAN_archive_778094_Visit_to_Great_Britain_by_General_secretary_of_CPSU_CC_Mikhail_Gorbachev.jpg" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--The Reagan Library (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reagan_and_Gorbachev_signing.jpg" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mikhail-gorbachev" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mikhail Gorbachev</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/what-stake" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">what is at stake</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/russia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Russia</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-policy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">u.s. policy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/foreign-policy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">foreign policy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nuclear-armament" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nuclear armament</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">China</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/india" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">India</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/pakistan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">pakistan</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/diplomacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">diplomacy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/communism" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">communism</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vladimir-putin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">vladimir putin</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Adam Gravano</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:56:37 +0000 tara 9922 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10976-mikhail-gorbachev-warns-us-about-what-stake#comments U.S. and China Prepare for a New Cold War https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10665-us-and-china-prepare-new-cold-war <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 05/25/2020 - 14:03</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1trumpjinping.jpg?itok=yoAI5Vdc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1trumpjinping.jpg?itok=yoAI5Vdc" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>Opinion:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>In September 2005, before an audience of some of the most powerful business figures in the United States, then-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick unveiled his “responsible stakeholder” formula for China’s global engagement.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>China is big and growing… For the United States and the world, the essential question is how will China use its influence…. We need to urge China to become a responsible stakeholder in that system.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>This is how the China as a “responsible stakeholder” template for the West’s conduct of relations with an emerging power was born. It was not a superpower at that stage, but a rising one.</p> <p> </p> <p>Later in that same speech, Zoellick added:</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Many Americans worry that the Chinese dragon will prove to be a fire breather. There is a cauldron of anxiety about China.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>If there was a “cauldron of anxiety” then, it is “cauldron of paranoia” now as the U.S. slips towards a new Cold War.</p> <p> </p> <p>It’s not there yet, but the possibility of a permafrost can’t be discounted. This would include a decoupling of the U.S. and Chinese economies and a deepening technology war in which competing technologies would seek to get the upper hand inside and outside cyberspace. It would also include an arms race.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1chairmanmao.jpg" style="height:399px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Rising animosity</strong></p> <p>Washington’s campaign to deprive China’s telecommunications giant Huawei from access to U.S.-designed microchips for its artificial intelligence processors, mobile phones, and networking capabilities is aimed squarely at denying the Chinese company a technological edge.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Huawei decision is one of several designed to squeeze Chinese access to U.S. technology, and in the process disrupt global supply chains.</p> <p> </p> <p>China regards the U.S. campaign against Huawei as highly provocative, if not war by another means.</p> <p> </p> <p>These are sobering moments as the world contemplates getting dragged into a “cauldron” of superpower tension not witnessed since the 1950s.</p> <p> </p> <p>Middle-sized players like Australia risk getting trampled. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is discovering to the cost of his country’s agriculture and mining sectors that it is better to stay out of the way of bull elephants in a global jungle. His ill-advised solo intervention in calls for an independent inquiry into a pandemic has backfired as China picks off vulnerable Australian exports for reprisals.</p> <p> </p> <p>An American “cauldron of anxiety” has spilled over.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The U.S. problem</strong></p> <p>I was in that New York City hotel ballroom for the Zoellick speech as North American correspondent for the <em>Australian Financial Review</em>. I had no doubt it was a significant moment in America’s attempts to address an emerging challenge from an economically resurgent China, but this challenge needed to be kept in proportion.</p> <p> </p> <p>Bear in mind China’s president at the time was the cautious bureaucrat, Hu Jintao. The country had not yet left behind paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s advice to colleagues that when it came to demonstrating China’s newfound might, it was better to “hide your capabilities, bide your time”.</p> <p> </p> <p>It was seven years before the “China first” Xi Jinping became China’s most powerful leader since Deng, and possibly since Mao Zedong himself.</p> <p> </p> <p>Zoellick’s speech was delivered more than a decade before a New York property developer named Donald Trump became an “America first” president ill-equipped to deal with complexities involved in managing a relationship with a surging China.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump’s mixture of bombast, bellicosity, prejudice, impulsiveness, and apparent lack of a sense of history makes him particularly ill-suited to cope with the world’s biggest foreign policy challenge since the Second World War.</p> <p> </p> <p>That includes the Cold War with the former Soviet Union. That conflict could be managed by a policy of containment and mutually assured destruction.</p> <p> </p> <p>At a time when the Western alliance cries out for leadership, America is consumed, even torn apart, by internal divisions. Those divisions are likely to be rubbed raw in this year’s presidential election, in which China will be the focus of the sort of fearmongering that characterized American internal debates about the Soviet Union in the 1950s.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump’s contribution to that debate in the midst of a pandemic may not be surprising given his intemperate use of language generally, but in the circumstances, it was shocking nevertheless.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is what Trump tweeted on May 20:</p> <p><em>Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the “incompetence of China”, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing!</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Let that sink in. The latest occupant of the Oval Office, successor to some of the great figures of world history, has accused China of being responsible for “mass worldwide killing.”</p> <p> </p> <p>China’s mishandling of the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic deserve investigation and censure, but Trump himself bears responsibility for his own “incompetence” and that of his administration in managing America’s response to the crisis.</p> <p> </p> <p>In its early stages, he declared the virus would simply vanish. He used the word “hoax,” allegedly cooked up by his political enemies, to dismiss the contagion. As a consequence, valuable time was lost in responding.</p> <p> </p> <p>America now has the worst record globally in dealing with the pandemic. Things being equal, this will constitute a significant drag on Trump’s re-election prospects, hence his flailing about in search for scapegoats.</p> <p> </p> <p>Leaving aside American domestic politics – the Democrats will not want to be accused of being soft on China in a presidential election cycle – the much bigger question is the extent to which the pandemic will disrupt, even overturn, a globalizing world.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2trumpjinping.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>A new, shaky world order</strong></p> <p>The journal <em>Foreign Policy</em> has made a useful contribution to the debate in its latest issue – <em>The Great</em> <em>Decoupling</em> – in which it seeks to frame what is happening now historically. History is not kind to a process in which states decouple, pull up the drawbridges, roll back trade and investment ties and, in the United Kingdom’s case, depart a trading bloc that had served it well.</p> <p> </p> <p>America is far from the only nation state succumbing to the forces of nationalism and populism. It is a worrying trend for open-market trading countries like Australia, dependent on increasing economic integration.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is how <em>Foreign Policy</em> framed issues involved in what it perceives to be a disrupted moment in history in which a status quo power is being obliged to confront the reality of challenges to its brief moment as a hyperpower following the fall of the Berlin Wall.</p> <p> </p> <p>The threat of the great decoupling is a potentially historic break, an interruption perhaps only comparable to the sundering of the first huge wave of globalization in 1914, when deeply intertwined economies such as Britain and Germany, and later the United States, threw themselves into a barrage of self-destruction and economic nationalism that didn’t stop for 30 years. This time, though, decoupling is driven not by war but peacetime populist urges, exacerbated by a global coronavirus pandemic that has shaken decades of faith in the wisdom of international supply chains and the virtues of the global economy.</p> <p> </p> <p>This scenario might be regarded as alarmist, even implausible, given difficulties that would arise in dismantling a highly integrated global economy. However, if a pandemic and response to it are a guide against the background of growing tensions between the U.S. and China, the implausible becomes possible.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the past week, Trump has opined about “cutting off the whole relationship” with China. He has also speculated about not repaying US$1 trillion in debt to China.</p> <p> </p> <p>These are ridiculous statements, but the fact that an American president in an election year could say such things is indicative of the sort of atmosphere that prevails in a country where a populist leader has been wounded by his own ineptitude.</p> <p> </p> <p>However, if the 2016 U.S. presidential election demonstrated anything, it was that a significant proportion of the American electorate will embrace an “America First” mindset that is antagonistic to the outside world.</p> <p> </p> <p>Nationalistic Sinophobes on Trump’s immediate staff feed his populist impulses and his anti-China rhetoric at the risk of deepening a global recession or even depression.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Foreign Policy</em> quotes Zoellick liberally 15 years after his “responsible stakeholder” speech. His warnings today bear repeating in view of pressures in America to throw in the towel on engagement with the world’s largest population, second-largest economy, and a permanent member of the UN Security Council.</p> <p> </p> <p>If we have another pandemic, or environmental issues, or financial sector issues, or Iran, or North Korea, how effective are you going to be if you don’t have a working relationship with China?</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Tony Walker is an Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, at La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia).</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>This article was originally published in <a href="https://theconversation.com/beware-the-cauldron-of-paranoia-as-china-and-the-us-slide-towards-a-new-kind-of-cold-war-139023" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The Conversation</a>. Printed with permission.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>--Shelah Craighead (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/48162296741" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Whitehouse.gov</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Whitehouse.gov (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mao_Zedong,_Zhang_Yufeng_et_Richard_Nixon.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--PAS China (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Donald_J._Trump_visits_China_2017_(38427499221).jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/china" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">China</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/united-states" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">United States</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/china-us-relations" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">china-u.s. relations</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/xi-jinping" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">xi jinping</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cold-war" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cold war</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/chaiman-mao" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">chaiman mao</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/richard-nixon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Richard Nixon</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/state-department" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">State Department</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/diplomacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">diplomacy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 elections</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-world-order" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new world order</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tony Walker</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 25 May 2020 18:03:28 +0000 tara 9571 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10665-us-and-china-prepare-new-cold-war#comments