US House of Representatives Has Become a Garbage Heap for Anti-China Sentiments

On May 28, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution severely attacking the Chinese human rights situation. It revisited the political turmoil that occurred 25 years ago in Beijing; accused China of taking various measures to maintain social stability; urged the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) to engage in information infiltration against China; and demanded that the U.S. government prioritize the human rights issue in bilateral dialogues with China. The usually quarrelsome House reached an unprecedentedly unanimous agreement when it came to attacking China; with only one vote in opposition, the resolution overwhelmingly passed.

The number of anti-China resolutions the U.S. Congress has come up with in the past decades is innumerable. They constitute an element of Sino-U.S. relations by demonstrating the deeper perceptions and attitudes of American elites toward China, but they do not represent the Sino-U.S. relationship itself; China basically scorns the voices that come from the U.S. Congress.

In reality, the more aggressively the U.S. Congress attacks China and the more arrogant their demands, the more they ruin the image of the U.S. in mainstream Chinese society, allowing us to believe that “they are all such people.” To a certain extent, those congressmen have molded Chinese people’s understanding of the U.S. and strengthened the composure of Chinese society.

Due to our disregard for the accusations and preaching of the United States, China has become the biggest winner in mankind’s competition for social development in the last 20 years. In the early ‘90s, China was still struggling to break away from what was typically defined as poverty. Back then, buying color televisions and refrigerators was considered the highest possible [tier of] consumption for urban households; purchasing cars and owning private property was unimaginable. People did not plan vacations, there were only one or two national highways, and only provincial capitals had airports.

Today we live in “another” China. Our living conditions have undergone a complete turnaround, and as a result our basic rights have gone through fundamental changes. Similarly in the past two decades, many developing countries have listened to the bluffs of the United States and only ended up with war, turmoil and social stagnation. Therefore, China’s success has allowed the term “reform” to enjoy a positive connotation in the world’s major languages; due to numerous examples of failure, the same cannot be said for terms such as “revolution” and “spring.”

Ukraine has been one of the loyal students of the West, and is also a living tragedy. What has happened in the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the Middle East has made more of an impact and been more powerful for China than the U.S. Congress’ call to arms. China has a long history of civilization; we are inherently capable of self-organization and regeneration. In the definitive moment of national revival, we can distinguish risk-posing factors from the most achievable breakthroughs.

U.S. congressmen are probably not so stupid that they’d be incapable of identifying those [events] that will produce better outcomes — China’s reforms as opposed to a “revolution” and a “spring.” They take the lead — intentionally, deliberately — in denying China’s political paths. The more stable China becomes, the more the rest of the world, including Western scholars, have started to discuss the Chinese model’s competitiveness and the more they have to put China down.

The passing of the newest anti-China resolution in the House is not only an attack on China’s social stability measures. There is a more nefarious purpose: to cause trouble for China by supporting transfer of power to certain people in an attempt to destroy China’s social order.

However, U.S. lawmakers have overestimated the movement this worthless resolution was supposed to stir domestically in China. It is no different than spitting on the bricks of the Great Wall of China.

The majority of U.S. congressmen currently serving have experienced a peak in U.S. power, and the American elite has mixed feelings toward the rise of China. In turn, Congress has become a garbage heap for dumping all sorts of emotions about China. From now on, China has no choice but to hold its nose when interacting with the US. I hope U.S. lawmakers have the necessary skills of introspection to clearly perceive the odors that abound in their assembly rooms.