INTERVIEW: (Update) U.S., China in “Cold War-Like Environment”

Washington, Nov. 15 (Jiji Press)–A noted think tank researcher who has advised U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on China policies said that the current U.S.-China ties are in a “Cold War-like environment.” “An increasing number of people across political and policy leadership in the United States see the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party of China and their influences as the number one threat to the American way of life,” Steve Yates, a senior research fellow for China and national security policy at the U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation, said in a recent interview. Touching on various threats such as fentanyl and unfair trade practices, he said that in the current environment, “we have to invest more resources to protect ourselves against potential damage from these malign influences.” “We are in a Cold War-like environment now with the People’s Republic of China,” Yates said, referring to the past geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the now-defunct Soviet Union. “China is expanding its sovereign claims,” he said. “Frankly its claims over Taiwan are expansionist, too.” Regarding Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks that a contingency over Taiwan could constitute what Japan calls a survival-threatening situation in which the country could exercise its right to collective self-defense, Yates said that the prime minister “has been exactly accurate” in her statements. Her remarks have raised the ire of the Chinese government, with the Chinese consul-general in Osaka, western Japan, making a social media post that can be taken to mean Takaichi must be beheaded. The consul-general “talks about decapitation,” Yates said. “That is profoundly provocative and aggressive.” “Has that consul-general been recalled? Has a formal apology (from the Chinese side) been given? The answer is no on both counts,” Yates said. “What kind of a government behaves in that way?” Trump caused a global stir by referring to the United States and China as the “Group of Two” shortly before and after his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of last month. G-2 was frequently used after the global financial crisis triggered by the 2008 collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, to underscore the importance of a U.S.-China unity to achieve a global economic recovery. Trump’s remarks have ignited concerns among U.S. allies, including Japan, because the use of the phrase may create the impression that the world’s two biggest economies would co-manage the international order. Yates, who also served as deputy national security adviser to the vice president under the administration of then President George W. Bush, said that Trump says “things that put people off balance.” “It’s an unorthodox way of communicating as a president,” Yates said. G-2 is “a notion that somehow there’s no problem in the world that can be solved unless the U.S. and China are cooperating,” he said. “It sounds very soothing,” he stated, before continuing, “It is not how the world works.” On Japan’s efforts to boost its defense capabilities, Yates said that a greater self-awareness among U.S. allies, more investment into deterrence and moves looking to the future of warfare all provide “greater flexibility at more manageable cost.” “Hopefully, that makes it harder for China to think that it can push too far,” he said. Yates added that the United States sees “Japan as a true responsible stakeholder.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]