By Koo Lap

Yang Jiechi is the new king of soundbites, thanks to the Sino-U.S. meeting in Alaska. His 17-minute long opening, and especially his reprimand for the U.S. – “The U.S. is not qualified to speak condescendingly to China, and the Chinese people will not take it” – is selling like hot cakes in the mainland. He had hardly finished speaking, before a myriad of t-shirts, cellphone cases, and umbrellas have been released in the English version of “Stop Interfering in China’s Internal Affairs”. Was Yang Jiechi really targeting Antony Blinken? Such a reprimand was pointing at the many hearts made of glass in China. Many actually believed that after a hundred years later, Yang Jiechi finally washed away the humiliation from the Boxer Protocol (Xin Chou Treaty) that the eight-nation coalition forced China to sign.

Although “Chinese people will not take it” had a “strong smell of gunpowder”, it is nothing new. As early as February 2009, Xi Jinping visited North America when he was still the “prince”, first in line to the throne. Before returning to China, he made the “Three Noes Declaration” to the overseas Chinese in Mexico: “There are some foreigners who had eaten their fill and had nothing better to do, pointing their fingers at our affairs. China does not, first, export revolution; second, export poverty and hunger; or third, cause unnecessary trouble for you. What else is there to say?” It was clear that since the financial tsunami in 2008, the CCP firmly believed that the Western camp led by the United States had lost power, and had no right to reprimand China. Holding onto its unparalleled foreign exchange reserves, China has splurged CN$4 trillion (US$614 billion) to develop infrastructure with a focus on high-speed rail. It was a proud moment at the time.

In his response to Yang Jiechi’s reprimand, Blinken sounded weak and bleak: the U.S. has its shortcomings, but it is “not trying to ignore them, not trying to pretend they don’t exist, trying to sweep them under the rug”, and instead has had a long history fo openly confronting them; externally, it insists on a rules-based international order established with the United Nations, the WTO, and the Monetary Fund, to resolve disputes, promote world peace and build prosperity together.

Yang Jiechi, of course, did not “takt it”. Among other things, hasn’t the “solemn” Sino-British Joint Declaration which promised “one country, two systems” and “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” long been reduced to a piece of scratch “historical document” paper long before its 50-year before expiration? A rules-based international order? Are you seriously still going on about that when the great power emerges?

Blinken’s response was weak, but there was a caveat. After the Alaska meeting, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited India and announced the strengthening of cooperation between the two countries to ensure the freedom of navigation in the Asia-Pacific region and to curb any expansion and aggression. Prior to this, the heads of the U.S., Japan, Australia and India have already held a video summit on security in the Asia Pacific region. It was more than clear who and what the target was. At the same time, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pointed out that the current threat is an unprecedented one since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and that Japan cannot solely protect its own peace and regional security. It needed help from allies. Therefore he will be visiting the U.S. in April to deepen a personal relationship with Biden. Although it was not explicitly stated, it was more than clear who and what the threat was.

Meanwhile, the E.U., which has always adopted an ambiguous attitude towards China, joined forced with the U.S., the U.K., and Canada to sanction four CCP officials in connection with serious human rights abuse in Xinjiang. China instantaneously countered with sanctions on 10 E.U. officials and German scholars. The tension at the moment is comparable to the state of the Cold War before Nixon opened the door to China. Of course, these are sanctions on paper that have little effects in actuality. China and the U.S. claimed that they would continue to cooperate on large international issues such as climate change, yet the whole world is seeing the essence of naked totalitarian rule with its own eyes, and there is almost a consensus to oppose the CCP; No matter how weak the Biden government is, a return to the honeymoon period during the reform and opening up of China back then would be very difficult.

The fact that is placed right in front of the Western camp is that China is the second-largest economy that has established close, inseverable economic and trade ties with the world. In the face of the challenge of totalitarianism, it is necessary to account for long-term plans and military reorganization while maintaining economic cooperation. In other words, the peaceful dividends handed out by Reagan and Mrs. Margaret Thatcher following the disintegration of the Soviet Union have been depleted. From now on, there has to be an expansion of armaments in handling the totalitarian challenge that vowed to not take that style of democracy.

Just like the confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1980s, this will be a contest of systems: in the end, is it a market economy or centralized rule that will create the indispensable strength for expanding armaments? As the “Chinese won’t take it” series sells like hot cakes, it was proof that the high degree of centralization has not yet completely stifled market vitality. Yet from Pfizer to AstraZeneca, it is clear that the foundation of Western development is robust, flexible, and strong. The centralized economy under an almighty power is nowhere close.

Humans are born to yearn for freedom. The same goes for the Chinese people. The vitality shown by the reform and opening up proved that the Chinese simply do not take that totalitarian rule at all. Convoluted as the path is, the results of this race was long predetermined: systems that go against human nature will ultimately fail.

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