INTERVIEW: U.S. Progressive Leader Eyes Greater Cooperation with China

By Nico Pandi Washington, Aug. 17 (Jiji Press)–A United States guided by progressive foreign policy would seek to improve cooperation with countries around the world, including China, said Matt Duss, a prominent progressive thought leader in the United States, in an interview with Jiji Press this month. The recent electoral success of left-wing candidates in the United States has led to growing interest in progressivism within the country. Although progressivism is usually associated with domestic reforms intended to reduce inequality and increase social justice, its foreign policy tenets are less widely understood. “As a progressive, I take the ethic of solidarity seriously. I think we live in an interconnected world,” said Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, a progressive think tank based in Washington. “Our security and prosperity should not come at the expense of the security and prosperity and safety of communities elsewhere.” In terms of security, Duss calls for a re-evaluation of the U.S. force posture globally, saying that the presence of U.S. troops creates less stability in some regions such as the Middle East. He sought to reassure, though, that any changes to the terms of the U.S.-Japan alliance would be done in close consultation with the Asian ally. “I think we need to pay close attention to the debate within Japan. There’s obviously a lot of concern within Japanese society about the continuing U.S. troop presence. I think we should take that seriously with Japan as a partner democracy,” he said. “I think one thing that we can promise is that a progressive administration would not act precipitously in making these decisions.” Duss, who previously served as foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, arguably the leading voice in the American progressive movement of the last 10 years, says that, while he is sympathetic to the concerns of some in Asia over the rise of China, it is incumbent on the world’s two largest economies to find ways to coexist to bring stability and safety to the region and the world. “But I think it’s a mistake to characterize the (U.S.-China) relationship mainly as competition. There is going to be cooperation. I would hope there will be more cooperation than competition, and I think the United States needs to really press forward to identify those areas of cooperation.” While citing climate change, pandemics, and global development as areas ripe for increased cooperation with China, Duss rejects the orthodoxy of the U.S. foreign policy establishment that China’s massive global infrastructure project intended to connect emerging markets and developing nations with Beijing, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, is economic warfare. “Many people here in Washington see this as a threat,” Duss said. “They see these regions as an arena of competition with China. I don’t think it’s necessarily right to characterize that all as competition.” Overall, progressive foreign policy differs most from the trade and economic strategies of the past by focusing on the needs of working families and communities ahead of the “elite establishment.” “I don’t want to pit American workers in some kind of zero-sum competition against workers in China or Japan or anywhere else in the world. I think we need a kind of new global trade order that really puts the needs of workers front and center.” While Duss foresees a significant shift in trade policy under a progressive administration, he does not stray far from long-standing strategy in terms of Taiwan, perhaps the most strategically sensitive issue in the U.S.-China relationship. Instead of saying how a progressive U.S. administration would react to an invasion of Taiwan, Duss emphasized the need to maintain the current admittedly “unsatisfactory” status quo. “I think the best course forward is to lower the temperature to make clear that the United States does not support any kind of military solution by either side, we maintain a ‘One China’ policy, (and) that this issue should be resolved peacefully,” he said, largely echoing existing U.S. policy. While there will be points of disagreement between the United States and China, such as Taiwan or the “absolutely atrocious” treatment of its Uighur minority population, Duss asserts that preventing ties from worsening is in everyone’s interest. “(In) a relationship that is so broad and multifaceted and so consequential for the entire global community, I think the focus needs to be on identifying areas of cooperation and coexistence between the United States and China,” he noted. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]