Photo: IC

A "miscellaneous US troop" last week published an open letter addressed to US President Donald Trump. They maliciously attacked the People's Republic of China led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). They said that China is "increasingly taking actions that imperil the US and our allies," criticized US policy of "engagement" with China and asked the Trump administration "to stay the course on your path of countering Communist China." Among the 130 signatories of the letter, many are retired military officers and former intelligence officers. 

The purpose of the letter is to counter another recent open letter titled "China is not an enemy" signed by over 100 US experts on China and former US ambassadors to China. The latest open letter attacked almost every issue, including trade, human rights, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Belt and Road Initiative. The letter said China suppresses freedom and liberty and encouraged the US to strengthen "alliances with like-minded democracies" to defeat China. The world clearly understands what an overall China-US confrontation means. The global economy and globalization will be impacted. At the very least, Asia will face serious uncertainty. 

If the US is really going to "defeat" China and lead the confrontation to a life-or-death struggle, a war may become a real risk. Is the US society ready to face such a consequence? 

Those 130 people are obsessed with extreme geopolitical games. They separate themselves from the reality that the world pursues peace and development, and that people around the world want good lives. All they want is China-US strategic confrontation.

But they have made several serious misjudgments. 

First, they misread China. Their description of China and the CPC shows that their understanding of China is influenced by their stance and values. China's development is regarded as evil. They proposed to wantonly treat China, a large, prosperous and complicated country. They completely ignored China's contributions to world peace and development. The country they described has nothing to do with the real China. 

Second, they misunderstood the US. They followed their experiences to antagonize China but fail to see that the US is interest-driven. As the trade war goes, the losses of the US are challenging the sustainability of the country's trade policy. 

The strategy proposed by military and security officials toward China only represents one dimension of US attitudes. The mainstream popular will of Americans doesn't want trade isolationism or militarism.

Third, they misjudged the world. They attempted to unite democracies to defeat China. But why would those countries stand by some American geopolitical extremists against the world's second largest economy? Most US allies have complex and diverse relations with China. The era when countries aligned for political and military confrontation is over. Since they realize how selfish the US is, none of them will take the wrong side. 

The open letter is arrogant and malicious, full of shallow hearsay. Today's world is not built on hatred. Some people may be incited by the letter's propaganda, but others are concerned what the world will be like if people do as that letter says. 

The letter makes us realize that there are supporters of extreme stances toward China in the US. China must accelerate strengthening itself with rational foreign policies and increasing capabilities to deal with false accusations. This is the best counterattack to the letter and other similar challenges.