In several of these posts I have discusses how I believe that China is playing a masterful game of global ‘Go.’ I read an OpEd in the New York Times yesterday that had a similar view but from a little different perspective which made me think that China is really playing a three dimensional game of ‘Go’ – the third dimension being intellectual innovation.
Apparently in a recent appearance, Bill Maher was on a rant about the current state of U.S. -China relations and made the observation that one of the most troubling differences between our two countries is the fact that China can actually get big things done; America, no so much. We are all way to familiar with the gridlock that has become the hallmark of Congress for more than a decade.
“For many of our political leaders, governing has become sports, entertainment or just mindless tribal warfare. No wonder China’s leaders see us as a nation in imperial decline, living off the leftover fumes of American “exceptionalism.” I wish I could say they were all wrong.”1
There is no doubt that China engages in bad behavior. They have been ruthlessly suppressing efforts for self-rule in Hong Kong and there are the ongoing accusations of genocide involving the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. They are notorious for stealing intellectual property and there is the ongoing military buildup in the South China Sea. These are all issues that need to be dealt with but the US has ceded much of its authority to criticize as the US delegation, led by the newly installed Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, found out recently when they met with members of the Chinese government in Alaska. Yang Jiechi, China’s top foreign affairs policymaker, baldly told his U.S. counterparts: “The United States does not have the qualification … to speak to China from a position of strength.”1
The Chinese are very, very aware of the insurrection attempt that took place on January 6th. They are very aware of all of the Black Lives Matter protests that have occurred in this country. They are aware of all of the conspiracy theories that are being propagated by the media and political leaders. And they are certainly aware of the abysmally poor US response to the pandemic. Make no mistake, they are very aware of all of the goings on in this country. China views all of these as ‘chinks in the armor’ that has protected America since its founding. And as all of these ‘termites’ eat away at the foundation of this country, what do you think the Chinese are doing?
In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested that there would be an ‘Olympics’ in 2025 and that there would only be two competitors – China and the United States. The initiative was called ‘Made in China 2025’. This was basically a 10-year plan to modernize China’s manufacturing base by making huge investments. The idea was to dominate 10 key areas of technology. “The industries include artificial intelligence; electric cars and other new energy vehicles; 5G telecommunications; robotics; new agricultural technologies; aerospace and maritime engineering; synthetic materials; and biomedicine.”1
China is no only investing huge financial resources into these areas of technological innovation; they are investing huge amounts of human capital into these efforts. “STEM graduates have become a vital cog in the wheel of global prosperity and unsurprisingly, China is leading the way. The World Economic Forum reported that China had 4.7 million recent STEM graduates in 2016. India, another academic powerhouse, had 2.6 million new STEM graduates last year while the U.S. had 568,000.”2
As I have stated before in these posts, the politicians in this country are wasting tons of resources solving problems that aren’t problems, e.g., ‘wide spread voter fraud’, solving the wrong problems or blocking others from solving real problems. The current political tribal warfare is doing absolutely nothing to counter the two most existential threats to the long-term wellbeing of the United States – the undeniable threat from China and the undeniable threat from climate change. The continued political gridlock and polarization is just weakening this nation. And in the words of the famous warrior, Sun Tzu, “So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.”
China is getting much stronger while the United States is getting weaker, which is exactly the situation Sun Tzu was talking about. He also said, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” And viewed through that lens, we are losing.