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A Wall Between Us and China is Just Not the Answer
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” is counterintuitive but the expression must have some wisdom to have stuck around all this time— like thousands of years (from The Art of War attributed to Sun Tzu in the 5th century BC).
Toppled as biggest kid on the block, outrun and snubbed as “once was” are all terrible outcomes for the U.S. in its rounds with China. But way above these on the list of calamities would be war — grenades, ships, nukes and that kind of thing. Dissolving this one enormous concern may serve us better than any amount of attention on the rest of the issues however big they may seem. Actually, if we lessen the risk of war (likely over Taiwan) then most of the other problems will fall away or at least become more manageable.
Farah Stockman in ‘China Has Risen.’ And It Is Hungry for Competition, the New York Times June 30, 2021 says that mighty China can be inspirational for the U.S. to get it together at home.
Each side gathering their possessions, influences and thoughts and locking them away behind opposing big walls sets the stage for a fight or very costly state of siege. Each becomes a target as much as…
