China and US: The wrong war, with the wrong enemy

World
Europe

03:24

Those who sense their time, win.

Mr Trump saw his time: an opening to war, a trade war. Heading into 2018, US unemployment was the lowest in years and growth the highest in months.

Trump thought this was the time to attack. But when a master plays chess, he sees not only one move, not only the next, but the whole path to victory. Trump is myopic in not playing the long game.

Trade stories never repeat, but they do rhyme. Let us hark back to the 1950s and 60s when the US was a surplus country. Strong post-war demand coupled with targeted government policies gave birth to decades of American export growth. China entered a similar cycle at the beginning of the 21st century.

Like a big merry-go-round, your time comes and goes. A wise man adapts. America should train more workers to get into service and high-end manufacturing, not fight wars – for real or for trade. General Omar Bradley told Congress in 1951 that the Korean War was “The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy." America need not be wrong again.

Only time will prove where real strength lies. The biggest power of a nation comes from moral clarity and political purpose.

America First is not a slogan, it is a fact. America is first in many ways. It has the biggest economy, the strongest military and some of the best brains in the world. America is not an underdog, it is a top dog -- but barking loud, and at the wrong trees.

A trade war with the world is a wrong tree. Hotheads make war, cool heads make peace. The White House is in short supply of cool heads.

And cool heads usually come from a good heart. One of the songs that touched a chord in the hearts of many is Ray Charles’s America the Beautiful. In Chinese, America literally means the Beautiful Country, but only “Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine."

What are America and China? Let us recall Lincoln’s refrain from his first inaugural address: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies...The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

President Trump, if you want to be a great leader, find the better angels. You need to understand the limitations of short-term wins and appreciate the value of enduring victory. Your followers may be kind to you, but history will not.

Scriptwriting: Zou Yue

Videographer & Editing: Zhou Jinxi

Animation: Pan Yufei

Creative planning: Zhao Yuanzhen