China bashing reveals stupidity of politicians in Washington

China bashing has long been a favorite sport in the United States, especially during presidential campaigns. But the China-bashing hysteria is likely to reach an unprecedented level in the 2024 presidential election season.

In an increasingly divided Washington where Republicans and Democrats can hardly agree on anything, China bashing, unfortunately, has become a shared hobby of the two political parties.

Republican candidates such as former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, former vice-president Mike Pence, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, and even biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have all resorted to crazy rhetoric to project themselves as being tougher and crazier than the rest in "China-bashing sport".

It is highly likely that in the first Republican primary debate on Aug 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, most Republican candidates will focus on attacking previous president Donald Trump, whose support at 52 percent as of Monday exceeds the rest of the candidates combined according to various polls despite the multiple criminal indictments against him.

DeSantis, who trails Trump by a big margin, having just 15 percent support, is also likely to be the target of other candidates' attacks, especially if Trump chooses to not attend the first debate, something still undecided. The fight among the Republican candidates is expected to be nasty, as they will use every means possible to try to get ahead of the others in the race.

However, China may continue to be a bogeyman for the candidates judging by their campaign speeches, TV interviews and tweets over the past weeks.

Haley, who has only 4 percent support, often attacks China multiple times a day. Her tweets such as "China is killing Americans", "China is our enemy, not our friend", "President Haley will end normal trade relations with China" and "China is walking all over us" reflect nothing but ignorance and racism, especially because she has served as US ambassador to the United Nations.

Like Haley, many other US politicians know that no US news outlet will even bother to conduct fact checks on their remarks on China, however absurd those lies may be. The resurging McCarthyism in the US has not only emboldened these politicians to use lies to smear China but also helped them gain political capital.

While polls by Pew Research Center and Gallup this year show that 80 percent of the people in the US have an unfavorable opinion about China, there is no doubt that people like Haley have resorted to hate rhetoric and McCarthyism to mislead public opinion. That US public opinion is relatively easy to manipulate means those politicians will not stop blaming all US woes on China.

China bashing in the US has damaged the relationship between the world's two largest economies, a relationship that is widely regarded as the most consequential in the 21st century. It has also exposed the stupidity of US politicians to the 1.4 billion Chinese people, as well as those in the rest of the world who understand China well.

Not surprisingly, many Chinese people have started to realize that the insanity exhibited by US politicians while indulging in China bashing means China must have done something right. The good thing is that business leaders appear more rational and pragmatic on China because they cannot afford the nonsense like their politicians.

Greg Hayes, CEO of Raytheon, a key player in the US military industrial complex, told a US media outlet recently that Washington has to find a way to get along with Beijing, and added that the company has several thousand suppliers in China and "decoupling" from China is impossible.

It's time the US politicians brought back some common sense and sanity to the US presidential race when they talk about China.

The author is chief of China Daily EU Bureau based in Brussels.

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn