The U.S.-China relationship is arguably at a new low.
A translation of the article is titled “In order to improve the U.S.-China relationship, why we must win over America’s left-wing?”
The author of the article referred to "those American left-wing or liberal elites" who think they know a lot about China as “China Knowers” or 知华派 (zhi hua pai), and he recounted their contribution to China’s rise over the years.
The article reads, “If not for the Clinton government’s policy to engage with China in the 1990s ... how could China have had such a nice outside environment for economic growth?”
The article said that because the American Left is too naive and arrogant, they think the US engagement with China will eventually help the regime embrace more liberal democratic values.
It adds that "they had drawn wrong conclusions... it’s exactly their mistakes that we (China) took advantage of and won over opportunities for our own (Chinese) development, and reduced the resistance to our (China's) uprising.”
The author noted that although past administrations—on both the left and the right—had pushed for engagement with China, the situation is different now.
“But today,” the article reads, “the gap between China and the U.S. interest is too huge. There is no overlap. There is no common strategic interest. If we want to improve the two countries' relationship through America’s right-wing, that means we have to make huge compromises in our political system and economic model. ... This is something we cannot accept.”
The author wrote that the so-called “China Knowers” are still important for influencing Washington’s China policies. Therefore, they're still considered targets that China should try to win over.
He Qinglian, a New York-based Chinese scholar, wrote on Twitter that China is ”looking for substitutes for the ‘Panda Huggers.'” The term refers to western academics and officials who had championed engagement with China and had believed that China’s rise would be a good thing for the world.
However, in recent years, some of China’s previous champions have become increasingly skeptical.
The report pointed out that the regime has been trying to undermine America’s democratic process through its influence on the Chinese American community, Chinese students in the US, American civil society organizations, academic institutions, think tanks, and the media.
It remains to be seen how deep this awakening will run, but the Chinese regime’s influence on Washington’s China policies over the years cannot be dismissed.
Half of it was written by a researcher named Liu Xuecheng from the China Institute of International Studies—an institute under the regime’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The researcher told state media that although it's partly his report, "it actually represents China.”
It's common for newly elected presidents to receive policy advice reports. But one co-authored by a Chinese national under a foreign regime’s central government, is unprecedented in U.S. history.
The policy report asked the White House to respect China’s “core interests,” to work with the Chinese regime on Taiwan issues, and not to arrange meetings with Tibetan activists.
The 2009 report expressed hope that "the new administration will make its broad points in public ... but save its specific human rights questions, those about particular individuals, for private deliberations with the Chinese."
His administration's officials reassured the media that the then-president “pulled no punches” in private meetings.
But some say the reality we are facing today clearly proves that the “behind closed doors” approach hasn't worked and needs changing.
The United States is now suffering due to the Chinese regime’s lack of transparency and totalitarian rule. China’s silencing of whistleblowers and citizen journalists left the world in the dark for months about the severity of the current virus pandemic.
As the 2020 U.S. election approaches, President Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden are now in a race to see who can be tougher with China.
Trump, who has long pledged to bring manufacturing back from overseas, is reportedly ramping up efforts to remove supply chains from China. He has also said he could use new tariffs to punish the regime for its handling of the virus outbreak.