China's foreign policy success reveals flaws in American strategy: US media

"China's success exposes flaws in American national security policy, particularly the policy of nonrecognition as well as the reliance on the use of military force to achieve gains in international politics. Our instruments of power are not working," said an opinion article published by the US magazine CounterPunch on March 21, highlighting China's success in promoting the resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

"China's orchestration of the renewal of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia should be a wakeup call to the Biden administration's national security team, particularly to Antony Blinken's Department of State," said the author, Melvin A. Goodman.

Goodman is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University, and a former CIA analyst, according to CounterPunch, an online magazine based in the United States.

Goodman suggested that China's emphasis on maintaining correct political relationships with all countries, regardless of their ideological orientations, has proven successful, as the country has stable relationships with most friends and opponents. In contrast, the US has bluntly maintained "non recognition policy" towards countries it dislikes for ideological reasons. For instance, the US has no diplomatic relations with two of its most important adversaries, Iran and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"While the United States relies on military force and military forces to carry out foreign policy, China has relied successfully on economic relations in the form of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This approach has given Beijing an important presence throughout Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America and the Caribbean," said the author.

Goodman also refuted US mainstream media's reports charging that Sri Lanka is falling into a "debt trap" due to high levels of debt in various projects of BRI. "In actual fact, 80% of Sri Lanka's foreign debt is owed to multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and Wall Street investors. Its debt to China is only 10% of its total foreign debt," he added.

"Biden needs to recognize that the containment of China, which we have been pursuing for the past ten years, has been a remarkable failure," said Goodman, suggesting that the US needs to find new diplomatic strategies while changing the outdated thinking that has given the US Department of Defense a leading role in decision-making.

"China's economic policies are no threat to the United States, and we are unable to 'contain' China in any event," said the author. "Overall, stronger economies around the world contribute not only to international security generally, but are a good thing for the United States in particular."