Why doesn’t China admit to competing with the United States?

This Q&A is adapted from Carnegie Live Events U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken evaluates Sino-U.S. relations after his visit to China. It has been edited for clarity.

Paul Haenle: Our friend Bonnie Glaser launched tweet Shortly after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visit to China, he highlighted his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.She pointed out with concern that Xi Jinping pointed out “Great power competition does not represent the trend of the timesThe Biden administration has been trying to persuade China to accept its competitive framework as the backbone of the relationship, while also recognizing that it must work together to prevent competition from turning into conflict. Part of the reason why China may be reluctant to reopen military channels may be related to the related to this philosophical disagreement between the US and China. Clearly, China is competing with the US. You and I can give a dozen examples of how Beijing competes aggressively. But why are Chinese officials so reluctant to accept the concept of competition in US-China relations Woolen cloth?

dennis Wilder: We all know the philosophy of American exceptionalism – we believe we are a shining city on a hill; that democracy is a better system of government than autocracy. This has been part of our entire American history narrative. John F. Kennedy and other presidents mentioned it. China also has a kind of exceptionalism. From what Xi Jinping said “Global Civilization Initiative“. Beijing regards itself as the world’s first ancient civilization with a continuous history of 5,000 years. China began to show in a way that has never been said in modern history that its model can become the model of the world. Not only in the “Global Civilization Initiative” , and in “Global Security InitiativeChina has put forward the concept of win-win cooperation, the common concept of mankind, and the concept of a peaceful world. So, it is very difficult for Xi Jinping to accept the concept of competition. For him, competition is the American ideal, and in competition, there can only be one winner. They see it as a competition where there will be losers and there will be medalists. The Chinese don’t like this metaphor. So I think part of what you’ve seen in Anthony Blinken and Xi Jinping’s recent visits is this philosophical position; we need to find a way that we can all win in this competition. To some extent, this competitive framework is more in China’s interest.

We are seeing more and more that Xi Jinping is hiding himself in Chinese history in a way that Mao Zedong and other modern Chinese leaders have never done, because they refuse to accept dynastic history.i want you to see video The recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Xi’an. If this isn’t an Imperial event, I don’t know what is. Xi Jinping is wrapping himself in China’s imperial history in a way that I think we need to start looking at. I don’t think we can understand Xi Jinping if we don’t understand that history.