Anti-China Rhetoric Distracts Washington – and Boosts Beijing. Panic and fear should not drive U.S. foreign policy by Gregory W. Meeks

By Joel Wong

In his latest column, Joel Wong discusses an article by Gregory W. Meeks published in Foreign Policy.

“Gregory W. Meeks represents New York’s 5th District in the U.S. Congress. He is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee. First elected to Congress in 1998, Meeks is a multilateralist with decades of experience in foreign policy. In this article published in FP (foreignpolicy.com), Meeks asserts that a renewed focus on development and diplomacy is Washington’s best bet for countering Beijing in the short and long term.

“The US has undercut its own global leadership by undervaluing diplomacy and (technology) development in favor of military spending and costly forever wars. While the United States spent billions on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, China spent those years building its diplomatic capacity. China has now surpassed the United States in the number of diplomatic posts worldwide (280 compared to our 275) and doubled its diplomacy budget from 2013 to 2018. After a pandemic dip, China increased its diplomatic expenditures by 12.2 percent in 2023 alone.”

“A renewed focus on development and diplomacy is Washington’s best bet for countering Beijing in the short and long term. Beijing has made transformative investments at home in research, innovation, and technology, as well as over a trillion dollars in foreign infrastructure financing and investments abroad through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China has gleefully taken advantage of a divided United States that shrunk from global leadership, spreading its influence through the BRI as well as a growing diplomatic footprint.”

The US has resorted to using Tonya Harding tactics, instead of running faster or skating better, we have been spending all our energy trying to whack the kneecaps of China – a loser’s game!”