War with China Is Not Inevitable: Jake Werner on How to Defuse Tensions Between Washington & Beijing

[Uncle Joe]

We look at the state of U.S.-China relations after the U.S. shot down a suspected high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina last week. In recent days the U.S. has also shot down three additional objects flying at lower altitudes in northern Alaska, over Lake Huron and over the Yukon Territory in Canada. Meanwhile, China has accused the United States of flying surveillance balloons into Chinese airspace at least 10 times over the past year, which the Biden administration has denied. For more, we speak with Jake Werner, a historian of modern China and a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His new piece for The Nation with William Hartung is titled “War With China Is Preventable, Not Inevitable.”

[Martin68]

1. Neither country wants a war. Both countries are talking tough. But in my view, China is not making

a lot of sense. They sent a spy balloon across the US and we shot it down. That should have been the end of it. China has every right to shoot any spy plane or balloon we send into their airspace. Their insistence that it was a weather balloon is absurd. Everybody knows we are spying on each other, and when we get caught, we deny the charges. But we don't threaten military retribution. I'm not sure what China's game is, but it might come from some sort of domestic political weakness. China has severe economic and demographic problems and might want to distract the Chinese people from those issues.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Anyone underestimating China, and not understanding their goals is very foolish.

Very foolish indeed.