The Toxic Effect of U.S.-China Rivalry

Rivalry with China is already supercharging everything that is wrong with our foreign policy.

Hugh Hewitt really hates diplomacy:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just returned from a trip to Beijing that brought to mind the sort of kowtowing that “Middle Kingdom” emperors once demanded of vassal states.

There are many important reasons why a Cold War-like rivalry with China will be bad for the United States and the world, and the toxic effect that it is already having on our politics is one of them. Every time that the U.S. embarks on some global struggle, the political debate in this country immediately becomes much more vicious and much stupider. Hardliners attack anyone in or out government that doesn’t jump on their bandwagon, and they denounce the most routine, unremarkable diplomatic contacts as capitulation to the enemy. Under these circumstances, most politicians and policymakers fall in line or stay quiet, and zealots and ideologues get to set the terms of the debate.

Our foreign policy debates are warped and biased in favor of aggressive measures at the best of times, and when Washington is gripped by hawkish groupthink these debates become even more obnoxious. Rivalry with China is already supercharging everything that is wrong with our foreign policy. Over the next year, it is going to get so much worse.