Vice-President Pence creates fallacious narratives

US Vice-President Mike Pence delivered a speech at a think tank on Oct 4 and, unfortunately, the narratives that he presented on China are fallacious, counterproductive and already obsolete.

It is the very obvious US obsession with supremacy which has become highly problematic and certainly not the effort of others to enjoy a better life.

The re-emergence of China is peaceful and enriches from a quantitative and qualitative perspective our global village. This is a fact.

Contrary to what Pence implied, China does not see itself as an enemy of the US. China is a force for peace and development. The US might want a theoretical enemy to justify its military hubris, but the peaceful renaissance of China is a reality.

It is President Donald Trump, not China, who threatens multilateralism and our planet. Not to fight climate change is simply an aggression against mankind. It is important to make a distinction between the US and Trump, of course.

In a sense, it can be argued that Trump is a constant aggressor against the US, its generosity and highest values.

By unilaterally declaring that China should not become the No 1 power on Earth because this is an exclusive American privilege, the Trump administration interferes with other countries' affairs and with the course of history. The US will have to learn how to be more modest.

The premise of any narrative that could be widely embraced should be about the interests of mankind first.

Having the interests of mankind in mind, everything must be done for a cooperative China/US relation at the service of a smarter multilateralism. Together, China and the US must fix the multilateral system, not destroy it.

Trump divides, he divides the world and his own country. However, unifying forces will prevail, and the Chinese renaissance is one of these unifying forces.

Political wisdom can’t be to stop such a renaissance, but should be about ideas and actions as a catalyst for a better world.

David Gosset is the founder of the Europe-China Forum (2002), the New Silk Road Initiative (2015) and author of Limited Views On The Chinese Renaissance. He has contributed this article to China Watch exclusively.