“There is a battle in the US between so called hardliners, so called neocons or neoconservatives, and those who want cooperative relations with China.”

Jeffrey Sachs, director at the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, shares his views with CGTN anchor Wang Guan in an extract reproduced below:

“There is a battle in the US between so called hardliners, so called neocons or neoconservatives, and those who want cooperative relations with China, which is a lot of us and a lot of the business community as well.

That battle continues.

From the neocon point of view the idea for the US is to contain China, stop or slow China’s progress, hinder China’s access to technology and ensure that the United States remains number one.  That’s their vision.

To my mind it is mindboggling. Harmful. Dangerous. Provocative. Can really get us into conflict.  And unimaginable.

Who the …  Who wants to contain China?  What a terrible idea!  What we want is economic progress that goes around for the whole world, and everyone can get ahead in a safe and sustainable manner.

So the idea that the world is a zero sum struggle, which is the neoconservative idea, is absolutely wrong.”

Watch the interview here:

First published at jeffsachs.org, December 31, 2022