https://youtu.be/ZjmvxeShO2Q

Retired Ambassador Chas Freeman, Nixon's translator during his 1972 trip to China, says U.S. policy to China remains a desire to hold on to primacy globally and regionally. Biden's approach so far is not much different than the aggressive posture of Trump.

Paul Jay

Hi, welcome to theAnalysis.news. I'm Paul Jay. Please don't forget there's a donate button at the top of the web page.

No issue is more central to U.S. foreign policy than the rise of China as a major global economic power. The rhetoric from the Trump administration, from the new foreign policy team around Biden, and from the majority of foreign policy pundits in D.C. depicts China as a threat and adversary and aggressive power. The language is much the same as during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. It's mostly China that is used to justify a massive growth in the U.S. military budget. Yet it's clear that without cooperation with China on climate policy, there's little chance we humans will survive the crisis.

So what drives U.S. policy towards China? And why is it considered more threatening than simply a large economic competitor? Now joining us is Ambassador Chas Freeman. He's a visiting scholar at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. He was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 1993 to 1994, earning the highest public service awards of the Department of Defense for designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War European security system and reestablishing defense and military relations with China. He served as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm 89 to 92.

He was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs from 86 to 89 during the historic U.S. mediation of the Namibian independence from South Africa and Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola. Charles was deputy chief of mission and charge d'affaires in the American embassies in both Bangkok 84 to 86 and Beijing from 81 to 84. He was director for current Chinese affairs at the U.S. Department of State from 79 to 81. He was the principal American interpreter during President Nixon's path-breaking visit to China in 72. In addition to his Middle Eastern, African and East Asian, and European diplomatic experience he served in India from 66 to 68. In 2009, he was asked to return to government to chair the U.S. National Intelligence Council. Following a month-long campaign of public vilification by right-wing elements of the American Israel lobby, he announced it would be impossible for him to succeed at that job and withdrew his acceptance of it. Thanks very much for joining us Chas.

Chas Freeman

Pleasure to be with you.

Paul Jay

So you are one of the most experienced American diplomats when it comes to China and one of the, I guess, foremost experts on U.S.-China relations. Why is China considered an existential threat? Now, when I try to research this topic. I mostly find a lot of language and rhetoric about China's denial of human rights and so on, and I'm sure most people who follow foreign policy don't take all that very seriously.

The United States complains about human rights when they're countries that are considered adversaries and when they're allies, the United States, doesn't care that much about human rights. So what's really driving this U.S. approach to China?

Chas Freeman

In a word, I think a desire to hold on to primacy globally and regionally. In World War two, Japan expelled the European imperialist powers from East Asia and the United States by the way, from the Philippines. We defeated Japan.