For the Common Good…

Has there ever been a more loaded phrase than “For the Common Good”? Thankfully, we are not quite at that point yet but time is running our in how to deal with Chinese internal and external aggression.

Let's rewind a little and you'll see what I mean.

For those who may not be aware (!), the US is in an election year. We all expected to be talking about this nearly exclusively, whether Trump would definitely win or definitely lose… and then Coronavirus took over and now the news outlets talk about nothing else.

Trump takes aim at China

Right from the start of the pandemic, Trump took aim at China, calling it the Wuhan Virus – much to China's dismay. Of course, he was playing his “trump card” – [sorry, pun intended – ed]. Biden is particularly weak on China, having been part of the Obama administration that let China pretty much do what it wanted for 8 years. Previous presidents equally don't have much to crow about when it comes to their China policy and I must admit, I also thought that economic prosperity would relax the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) hold on the country. How wrong I was.

But Trump won middle America, not through clever speeches or intellectual prowess, but by baser means – characterising China as a foe: the hacking, intellectual property-stealing, job-swiping foreign power, intent on killing America by attrition, paying out enough rope to hang herself with.

And it worked. He won. So now that he's up for re-election, the anti-China rhetoric is truly his main play. It is unsurprising, therefore that his voters respond positively to such talk. Despite Trump's fairly woeful handling of the pandemic, China will remain on the agenda as he can point to some real wins, repatriating jobs and threatening economic sanctions even though he would have had a hard time making them stick.

China is is an economic powerhouse. We made it one! From Nixon's time to now, we have facilitated China's growth and created a monster. China is no longer content to sit passively by, being lectured on human rights. It flexes its diplomatic muscle and intimidates countries like Australia who dare to criticise it over its handling of the pandemic. Alone, China can easily out-gun pretty much anyone – even the US is wary of tweaking the dragon's tail. The only way to stand up to her therefore, is by showing and demonstrating unity. The major economies of the world – the US, the EU, Britain, Canada, Australia make up much of China's clientele. By banding together and seeking other ways to produce what we need, it won't take long before China begins to feel the pinch.

Contradictory Strategies

But here is where we come to a dead-end. Even though Trump is so anti-China, so gung-ho about making sure that American jobs stay in the US, why, then, is he torpedoing his own policies? If unity is the only way to counter China, why did he buy up the entire stock of Remdesivir? Why is he threatening new tariffs on the EU?

By putting the US apart from everyone else, he is giving China an edge. China has 3-4 vaccine candidates and should they “win” and produce one that works, they'll use it as a diplomatic weapon against the US and all other countries that would potentially be a US ally. Chinese control of the vaccine would be a powerful incentive for normally critical countries to get in line, with entire populations bowing to the will of the CCP. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but can anyone think of a more nauseating outcome?

Together, the rest of the world has a chance. Unfortunately the current POTUS is hell-bent on isolationism, believing falsely that the US can go it alone. The alternative POTUS, on past form, would cozy up to the Chinese again, in the belief that borrowing more and buying more will bring them onside.

Neither is correct and both paths will lead to an even more powerful CCP.

It is time to create a new coalition of the willing

It seems that the US, China and Russia will now no longer be part of any unifying force, and that spells danger for the rest of the world. With Brexit out of the way, it is time to create a new coalition of the willing. One where countries that wish to counter the anarchy of the powerful, team up and support each other. The Commonwealth seems to be a good place to start, but it also will need to include the EU.

A new world alliance without the US will be a strange thing, but the US has shown over several presidencies that it no longer wants to be a superpower – or at least, doesn't want the responsibility. Where formerly, America stood as a bulwark against communist tyranny, it is now happy for them to descend into chaos and affect the world economy – as long as the US remained unaffected. True, she cannot remain unaffected for long – coronavirus was a classic example of the failure of nation states, but until she learns that lesson, the rest of us must get along without her.

For the Common Good…

So, For The Common Good, we must put aside our differences. To be fair, we have much more in common than not, but for this to happen, the EU must let Britain go, and Britain must re-embrace the EU as an ally. Those states who are already not in the Commonwealth must be invited in or form part of a looser alliance – I'm thinking of Japan and South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and, of course, Taiwan. By making those countries our manufacturing base, we can start to rebalance the significantly skewed world economy.

Together we are strong. Divided we fall. That has been true since Aesop and probably before.

We ignore this at our peril.