Washington losing sight of overall picture is prescription for greater trouble in long run: China Daily editorial

Reports that United States President Joe Biden may soon sign an executive order to boost domestic biomanufacturing and reduce reliance on China should come as no surprise to any party.

Like the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 that he signed into law on Aug 9 and the executive order he issued on Aug 25 on its implementation, the new executive order the US president is reportedly poised to sign is just another step down the path the current administration has chosen to take.

To Washington decision-makers, the move is no doubt viewed as an integral part of the US grand strategy for what they see as a long game of great power competition with China. Under the pretext of safeguarding US supply chain security, they seek to secure or reclaim US advantages and industry dominance, while at the same time suppressing China's progress in corresponding fields.

Even without any clamor about decoupling, Washington seems determined to press ahead with the decoupling advocates' agenda and significantly hollowing out the once mutually beneficial aspects of cooperation between the two countries. There is no sign of any end to this trend. The only question appears to be how far they will go.

The rapid and accelerating decline in mutual trust allows for little optimism about the prospect of the China-US split. Considering the present feelings of hostility against China in both chambers of the US Congress, in the strategic circles in Washington, and among the US public, there will likely be still more similar moves in other "security-sensitive" areas.

Attempts to forcefully decouple the two economies, such as those made by the US lately, may serve some immediate political calculations, such as those about votes and seats with the midterm elections looming, but losing sight of the overall picture may be a prescription for greater troubles in the long term.

Many in the US like to blame their country's present difficulties on economic globalization, which they believe has stolen American jobs and boosted US rivals like China. Yet few have bothered to study to what extent US relations with China have benefited their country and to what extent and how it may actually be threatened. Weaning China from US scientific and technological know-how may indeed set back Chinese tech progress for some time in some ways, but only under the present pattern of interaction.

Washington's recent moves, however, are meant to redraw the geopolitical landscape and upend the international paradigm. There is no guarantee everything will go as they wish or foresee in the brave new world they are trying to shape.

Washington can do everything in its capacity to spur domestic progress. But the parallel world its present endeavors are threatening to create may completely overthrow global economic and trade activities as they have been carried out over the past decades. Washington might want to bear in mind the old adage, be careful what you wish for.