In this series, I explore how US narratives on the ‘China threat’ have become entrenched in Western security communities and how a ‘China threat’ narrative has been constructed by Republicans and Democrats in the United States in an attempt to create a “rally round the flag” effect designed to internally unite a deeply divided America.
I outline seven reasons why China is not a threat, including because China has no imperial legacy, China’s foreign policy is not – like some other states – ultra-nationalist, China has no territorial ambitions, China is not exporting its ideology, China’s obsession is secession, China’s focus is driven above all by economic concerns, and finally, because China’s Military is built for defence, not to threaten others.
A war with China is avoidable because it is not looking for one. But if America isolates China by equating it with Russia, escalates every dispute into a make-or-break issue and recognises Taiwan as a sovereign state, tensions will rise until war seems inevitable. Anti-China hawks already envisage that.
Likewise Australia should stop treating China as its enemy and instead see it for what it is – a rising economic superpower that wants to engage diplomatically and commercially with the world, not ideologically or militarily.
Read the full series below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
China’s Military is built for defence, not to threaten others
Percy Allan AM was Chair, Evidence Based Policy Research Project (2018-2022). He is also a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney. (Former Secretary, NSW Treasury and Chair, NSW T-Corp 1985-1994 and Chair, NSW Premier’s Council on the Cost & Quality of Government, 1999-2007)
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