US-China Relations: Turning Crisis into Opportunity?

29 Mar 2021 02:00 PM

EXPERT COMMENT

There is a window of opportunity for both countries to find common ground.

The latest bilateral talks between the US and China show that the evolving dynamics between the two countries are becoming increasingly complex. The stakes are high and too much is on the line to let the US-China rivalry escalate into a military conflict. Instead, both countries need to come together to develop a joint vision for a sustainable and peaceful world.

In recent years, several simplistic narratives seem to have taken hold in the US-China relationship, chief among them, that liberal democracies are under threat by the rise of non-democratic competitors around the world, particularly China, who seemingly threaten the international rules-based system.

This narrative has played out in an intensifying ‘media war’ between Western and Chinese media outlets. In the West, the unfolding of what Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky have termed the manufacturing of consent seems to be taking place, pushed by the mainstream media, focusing on getting tough on China, and therefore, fostering public debate only within the parameters of China as a rival.

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