Change of light bulbs needed in Washington: China Daily editorial

While the Joe Biden administration recently reiterated that it is committed to responsibly managing the United States' relations with China, deeming them to be "consequential", politicians in Washington are quickening their pace to constrain and suppress China using whatever means they can think of.

As the culmination of their latest light bulb moments, the US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on more than two dozen China-related bills, including those that seek to reduce the US' reliance on Chinese biotech companies, ban Chinese electric vehicles and drones, and toughen export restrictions.

Notably, there is also legislation being put to the vote that could close Hong Kong's economic and trade offices in the US. The bill, called the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act, would require the White House to "remove the extension of certain privileges, exemptions and immunities" to the three economic and trade offices on the grounds that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region no longer enjoys a high degree of autonomy.

The economic and trade offices set up by the SAR government in the US serve to maintain cooperative relationships with local governments and businesses in different sectors. Given that currently there are more than 1,200 US companies investing and operating in Hong Kong, among them almost all the major US financial companies, to politicize the issue will only harm the interests of both sides.

With the US presidential election just two months away, it should come as no surprise that the China hawks in the US are attempting to raise the profile of their anti-China campaign, under the premise of tackling what they allege are "national and economic security threats" posed by China since "There's no political consequence to being too tough on China," as Rory Murphy, vice-president of government affairs at the US-China Business Council, put it.

Yet such a confrontational approach will cause serious interference to the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations, and will damage the US' own interests and credibility.

It is indicative of the zero-sum hegemonic mindset that festers in Washington that rather than establishing guardrails for China-US relations as proposed, some US politicians are trying to turn the House's first week back from its summer break into the stage for China-bashing to curb and counter China's influence, which belies US President Joe Biden's statement that the US has no intention to halt China's economic development or to contain China.

Worse, the anti-China bills are also intended to corral the next administration by restricting its policy space with regard to China, so as "to empower the next administration to hit our enemies' economies on day one", as House Speaker Mike Johnson said. Which goes to show that some US politicians, like video game addicts, have become so caught up in their anti-China game that they have lost all touch with reality. They need to go cold turkey to regain their bearings on terra firma, so that they can grasp the reality of what Beijing has tirelessly reiterated — China is not an enemy.