Washington falling into a trap of its own making

Editor's note: Some US politicians have been clamoring that China has stolen US technologies, and aims to be the global space leader. Zhong Sheng, a columnist of People's Daily, comments:

All of a sudden, the United States seems on the verge of collapse because of China's rise. It is often through people's own stupidity that they threw themselves into unrecoverable disasters in history. That is exactly what those US politicians are doing, as their minds still linger in the Cold War era in the 21st century.

The US decision-making circle is inflicted with a zero-sum mentality. It seems they believe that by increasing tariffs on imports from other countries they can eliminate the US trade deficits; that other countries' breakthroughs in science and technology are because of the US having its know-how stolen; other countries' making new friends at the cost of the US losing its old friends and the rise of some countries will necessarily lead to the fall of other countries, including the US.

The US has employed its diplomatic, economic and even military resources to intimidate, sanction and fight with other countries to realize the ugly purpose of starving others to death while feeding itself well.

Because of its zero-sum game mentality, the US has in fact been repetitively ensnared in strategic dilemmas and many of its unruly moves have been widely criticized by the international community.

Mutual respect should be the bedrock of international exchanges, and fair competition is the foundation for the market economy and global trade. Peter Navarro, director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, has even sought to persuade the US consumers not to buy any commodities made in China, and has smeared China with false accusations.

As the world's two largest economies, cooperation is the only correct option for China and the US, which is not only in the interests of the two countries and two peoples, but also conducive to promoting world peace and prosperity. Any false thinking and misjudgment in strategies can probably incur a global chain reaction.

In the past, people obsessed with hegemony and monopoly interests have dragged the world into wars. The US should learn the lessons from history and cherish the peace and development opportunities of today.