Encircling China not viable long-term strategy: FT columnist

LONDON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- China is right about the U.S. being the force behind the "containment," "encirclement," and "suppression" of China but encircling Beijing is not a viable long-term strategy, according to Financial Times.

Part of the reason behind the tension between the two countries is that "it is hard to imagine the circumstances in which America would willingly share the limelight," said Edward Luce, the U.S. national editor and columnist at the British newspaper, in a recent opinion piece.

President Joe Biden's attempt to cooperate with China was "as easily blown off course last month as a weather balloon," the article said.

It pointed out that such an overreaction was driven by Washington's consensus which is now "so hawkish that it is liable to see any outreach to China as weakness."

According to the article, this kind of bipartisanship is not always a good thing given the fact that some of America's worst blunders, including those that led to the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, were bipartisan.

Many Americans now believe that the U.S. and China are in a "Cold War" but are unable to find out a way for the U.S. to win it because "betting on China's submission is not a strategy," said the columnist.

Self-confident powers should not be afraid to talk, the article concluded.