Although in its foreign policy, the United States always treats China as its friend, the Communist Government of China never treats the US as its friend. As China has gained more international power, it has repeatedly and increasingly challenged the United States international position. Below is a translation of an article published in Globe, a magazine under the Xinhua News Agency. [1]
During the Cold War, the position of US in the world was quite similar to the earth in the theory of the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy. According to Ptolemy, the earth is the center of the universe. All other planets as well as the sun move around the earth.
The United States also thought of itself as the earth in relation to the universe – the dominator of power, the engine of world economics, and the bastion of the “free world.” When the Cold War came to an end, this “center theory” of the United States seemed to become more evident. The world seemed to be more like Ptolemys theory than ever.
However, perhaps this view is already history.
Recently, in written media and on the Internet, there have even been articles that relate the United States to the Nazis. In the past seven or eight years, through to the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were both started by the US, the world has seen that Bush has successfully inherited and intensified a US-style bigotry.
Due to the strong power that United Stated has used, its soft power has been greatly damaged. At the same time, the global anti-US spirit has turned around to restrain the United States from strategically expanding. Currently, the United States is in this vicious cycle.
Therefore, although several US presidential candidates have different opinions on many other issues, on the issue of changing Americas image in the world and utilizing its soft power, their opinions are somewhat similar.
Obama proposes to withdraw the army from Iraq, McCain emphasizes funding Africa to completely cure malaria, and others suggest closing the Guantánamo Jail. The US is trying to retrieve the “moral authority” it had way back in the period of President Kennedy.
However, there are also people who do not mind the decline of the soft power of the US.
In July of 2007, the Globe interviewed Joseph Nye, the ex-Assistant Secretary of Defense, who is the one who came up with the concept of “soft power.” According to Nye, soft power includes three elements; they are culture, ideology and political values, and foreign policy.
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By looking at these three elements separately, this Harvard University Professor argued that since the War in Iraq, the aspect of US soft power that has declined was foreign policy, not culture or political values. Compared with culture or value, which can only change over the long term, foreign policy can change relatively rapidly.
He also gave the following example. In the 1970s, the War in Vietnam caused a decline in support for the United States government. However, within 10 years, the USs soft power very much recovered.
He then changed the subject. He said that United States is the world leader for exporting movies, the news reported by US media affects the entire world, and the universities in the United States attract the largest number of international students in the world. “Individualism and freedom are attractive to many people,” he said.
There is no doubt that Joseph Nye is implying something – as long as the next United States president adjusts its foreign policy, the soft power of the United States can still be recovered.
However there are people who do not agree. The next US president will not be able to do much with foreign policy. United States army will stay in Iraq, continue to support Israel, intervene in the conflict between Palestine and Israel, and continue to constrain the even tougher Russia and fast developing China.
Even if Washington DCs foreign policy could be more restrained, in the aspect of culture, the “Father of soft power” is obviously missing a premise in his reasoning. The “Angel” from Hollywood no longer has blond hair and green eyes, and the devils no longer only have non-westerners characteristics. At the same time, today in China there is a famous saying, “dont be too CNN.” [2]
The United States once named freedom and democracy as “a gift to humans,” and spread them everywhere in the world. However, perhaps there are more hidden reasons for the fact that Joseph Nye will not admit that the USs ideology and political images have declined.
In 2007, after interviewing this American scholar, a Globe reporter heard the following viewpoint from a foreign policy expert: What is the United States most afraid of? It is “Capitalistic Dictatorship.”
In fact, by the so called, “Capitalistic Dictatorship,” the United States is mostly referring to Russia.
Since Putin became the President of Russia, he strengthened state power, ended the chaotic situation due to radical changes in society, and accelerated the recovery of Russias economy.
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However, there is something that people do not pay much attention to. The mainstream media of the United States frequently associate Moscow with “anti-democracy” and “retrogression.” However, as to the fact that Russia is successfully getting stronger and stronger, the United States media have hidden their voices altogether.
Russia is building its own political system. While it is very much welcomed by the Russian people, it is against many American and European values.
To the western world, admitting the success of the Russian model is very hard, though this model will be kept and developed for many years into the future.
Now it is not too hard to understand that Joseph Nye is perhaps intentionally avoiding an equation such as the following: “Non-western-democracy + Success = Collapse of the USs Soft Power.” Subconsciously, this kind of ignorance still assumes that the United States is the only lighthouse in the world for the correct values, and others values are all heretical ideas.
In 2005, the Pew Center conducted a survey of people in 16 different countries. The survey asked, “If you could choose one place that you could happily live for your entire life, where would you choose?” Only people from one country had a majority vote for the United States.
Todays world has been getting closer to the theory of Copernicus. The earth is no longer the center of the Universe. Although the attractive force of the earth is still very strong, it is not strong enough to pull other celestial bodies moving around it.
Copernicus was accused because his “heretical ideas” challenged the Roman Catholic Church, but he cried, “Open your eyes and face reality.”
Endnotes:
[1] Globe Magazine, May 9, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/globe/2008-05/09/content_8134027.htm
[2] After CNN commentator Jack Caffertys “goons and thugs” remarks on China, global Chinese launched furious protests against CNN. Ever since the word “CNN” has become a negative adjective among Chinese people to refer to someone despicable.