U.S. – China Relations: My Way is Better Than Your Way
On Tuesday, in the New York Times article “Booming, China Faults U.S. Policy on the Economy”, Edward Wong pointed out the cheerfulness of Chinese officials as they finally had the opportunity to turn the tables and reprimand American officials on the poor management of the American economy. According to Wong, America has had a long term policy of telling other countries, especially those developing (and communist) that they should follow the example set by the American economic policy. The Chinese have always listened with a smile and a nod and then returned home to pursue their own economic strategy. As Wong points out, the continuing ability of the United States to taut its economic tactics is fast dissolving, especially as “U.S. credibility and the credibility of U.S. financial markets is zero everywhere in the world.”
Yes, the United States financial market is not doing very well.
Yes, the Chinese economy is booming.
However, why is it that governments are convinced that they should be wasting time telling other governments how to run their country? Like a petulant teenager, each country believes that their method is the only method that “works” and that it has a duty to tell everyone else to do it the same way.
It’s about time that the United States stops flaunting its own policy. With such reliance on the idea of sovereignty within the international community for all affairs international, it is hypocritical for any nation to rely on the theory of sovereignty when defending its own policies then proceed to wag a finger at another country for not following a superior example by adopting similar strategies.
Perhaps the best excuse for finger-wagging and gloating is that of “globalization” and “interdependent markets”. But the point of an international economy is that every country does have something new to offer and a new setting in which to do business. Yes, it means that international players have to learn different games depending on where they are playing, but if everything was the same, there would be no point in going international.
