I'm not keen on defending the US, but as an European seeing these two countries equated doesn't make sense.
The US is a _liberal democracy_ and at least when it comes to Europe, they have been a valuable ally.
Saying that the US is just as bad as China, a comunist country that routinely violates human rights and keeps its people in the dark via censorship, I for one don't think it's a rational thought process.
And I'm speaking as a citizen of an ex comunist country in Eastern Europe. I know what censorship and living with fear of the state looks and feels like.
When the US infects the world with their ideology, what we get is freedom of speech, Hollywood and Coca Cola. I'm horrified however of a world in which China's policies are normalized and their values exported.
And before you say anything, think about how we wouldn't be able to have this conversation in China without fearing reprisals against yourself or your family.
If we're solely talking about political ideology then yes the US is without a doubt much closer aligned with Europe than China. On trade, however, it gets more complicated. With the increasing mercantilist attitudes in the US and attacks on say, German car manufacturers there is a real issue of Europeans being dependent on the US. If the US increasingly sabotages international institutions and throws its weight around for what appear to be short-term domestic gains it will become more and more unattractive to cooperate.
China, while diverging much more on political or humanitarian issues, is a much more globally connected economy. The Asian-European trade already dwarfs the European-Atlantic trade, and that is only increasing, and China has very little incentive to change that deepening integration. I'm a sceptic that liberal values alone (which also seem to be in somewhat short supply today) outweigh the deeper trade relations between Europe and Asia.
“I’m a sceptic that liberal values alone... outweigh the deeper trade relations between Europe and Asia.”
Indeed^ and this is precisely the problem. The US is behaving shamefully right now because our leadership does not understand (or value) that fact. However, this is precisely the point that I am trying to make: It is only people who have enjoyed post-war, liberal peacetime who think that trade relations should be able to threaten this whatsoever.
Chinese dominance does not yield the same life that US dominance yields (imperfect as it is).
> The US is a _liberal democracy_ and at least when it comes to Europe, they have been a valuable ally
... who spied wholesale on our citizens and politicians. Their destabilization campaign in the Middle East and North Africa isn't anywhere close to European interests.
The US is a _liberal democracy_ and at least when it comes to Europe, they have been a valuable ally.
Saying that the US is just as bad as China, a comunist country that routinely violates human rights and keeps its people in the dark via censorship, I for one don't think it's a rational thought process.
And I'm speaking as a citizen of an ex comunist country in Eastern Europe. I know what censorship and living with fear of the state looks and feels like.
When the US infects the world with their ideology, what we get is freedom of speech, Hollywood and Coca Cola. I'm horrified however of a world in which China's policies are normalized and their values exported.
And before you say anything, think about how we wouldn't be able to have this conversation in China without fearing reprisals against yourself or your family.
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