The "threat of China" rhetoric will exist for a long time; the question now is how to deal with such a mentality. The Outlook Weekly published an article illustrating the issue.

The article quoted a US sports magazine article published recently saying that the 2.26 meter tall NBA player Yao Ming is China's brainchild and wants to show China's national strength.

On May 23rd, the US National Defense published its "2006 Report on China's Military Strength'. The report claimed that China's military expansion has reached the level where it poses a threat to regional balance. The accurate strike capability of the Chinese army may even constitute a threat to the US' traditional military advantage.

"Economic threat" - the US State Department announced that due to considerations in security, it has decided not to buy China's Lenovo computers for its national confidential network. American and China Economic Security Appraisal Commission think that Lenovo may threaten the US national security. This has caught the Chinese company by surprise. In March, the US State Department planned to buy 16,000 sets of Lenovo computers worth 13 million US dollars. Some Americans were immediately opposed to this deal.

According to a recent book "Who does China threaten? - An Analysis of the 'Threat of China '" by Guo Xuetang, deputy director of the International Politics Institute of Tongji University, the "threat of China" rhetoric has not ceased and will continue to exist for a long time.

Since 2000, the US Defense Department has issued a military report on China every year and the tone of the "threat of China" is growing stronger and stronger.

Shen Dawei, a Sinologist in George Washington University said China's military modernization is very fast, but lacks transparency. This has become one of the evidence of the 'threat of China'.

In recent years, the US trade deficit with China has expanded. It was US$ 16.197 billion last year and is expected to be more than US$ 20 billion this year. With the huge trade deficit, some Americans believe that if it continues to develop at today's speed, the next generation of Americans will become poorer. Thus, US Senators Lindsey Graham and Charles Shumer have proposed a bill to place a 27.5% tariff on Chinese exports to the US to force the Yuan to appreciate.

The "energy threat" results from China's increasing needs of energy which some believe will lead to price rises in energy in the international market and further more threaten the security of energy. In 2005, the US refused to sell Unocal Corporation to China due to fear of compromising US energy security.

US restrictions in purchasing China's Lenovo computers imply that the ��technology threat' is a similar reason why the US has never relaxed its hi-tech export to China. If China experiences more breakthroughs in science and technology, then the absolute economic advantage of the US will be challenged on all fronts.

Guo Xuetang maintains that the "threat of China" rhetoric has expanded to more areas than just the economy and that the original academic debate has changed in reality when viewed by Americans.

Yuan Peng from China Contemporary International Relations Institute said that in the 21st century, the "threat of China" rhetoric not only referred to mainland to Taiwan, but also referred to bordering countries and even America.

Professor Xiong Zhiyong from Foreign Affairs University of China claims that the restriction in buying computer and Unocal are the same in character which shows American's ideological prejudice. In contrast, this March, the US has reached a nuclear cooperation agreement with India during President Bush visit to the country. The US agreed to transfer civil use nuclear technology and nuclear material to India.

Experts warn that the "threat of China" rhetoric will exist for a long time within different industries, for example the automobile industry.

Therefore the way in which such a mentality is dealt with is important.

Experts propose that China should take internationalism as its basic way to deal with the issue.

Shen Dawei said both China and the US should make efforts in communicating to each other. He proposed that China improve its transparency in military strength and that the US clarify why they deploy their troops in Asia.

Guo Xuetang says there must be different ways to deal with different people. For those who are hostile to China, there will be a confrontation. From an academic point of view, there should be greater exchange of ideas whilst for those who are suspicious about China's development, more explanation and assistance are necessary. For example for bordering and least developed countries, China should shoulder more responsibilities to help them.

On May 30th, the Chinese government donated 10 billion Yuan (US$ 1.25 billion) of materials to Indonesia to help the earthquake victims having earlier donated US$ 2 million.

China provided much assistance during the Tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean in 2005 and the Katrina disaster in the US. Chinese President Hu Jintao has also promised to provide US$ 10 billion of preferential loans to developing countries and written off debts for those least developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China in the following two years.

"This is a positive direction," said Guo Xuetang.

By People's Daily Online