The Americans are constantly talking about the need to compete with their country's biggest rival and how to achieve this. However, many American politicians have never visited China. This was reported by The New York Times after President Donald Trump announced that he would postpone his visit to China for several weeks.
It has become the „new normal“ in Washington to speak about China almost exclusively in the language of threat. The competition is real, but that is precisely why US leaders should be strengthening relations with China, not distancing themselves from it.
As Beijing has repeatedly stressed, the issue of strategic perception is like the first button on a shirt - it must be buttoned correctly. The risks of misunderstanding between the world's two largest economies are too high to ignore. The United States cannot manage its relationship with China - the most important bilateral relationship in the world - from a distance, through assumptions, media headlines and political platitudes alone. First, it is necessary to understand China as it really is.
However, the debate often takes place with limited knowledge of China. Few U.S. officials travel to China, and even fewer have direct dialogue with Chinese counterparts. Too many conclusions are drawn from mediated analysis.
Between 2010 and 2019, 177 U.S. lawmakers visited China as part of 59 congressional delegations. However, since 2020, these exchanges have almost stopped. A similar trend is evident at the presidential level: every US president since Ronald Reagan has visited China at least once during his term in office, but no such trip has taken place since Donald Trump's visit in 2017.
According to a report by the US-China Education Trust, the United States is losing China experts at a time when it can least afford to do so. Rory Truex, associate professor of politics and international relations at Princeton University, called for greater investment in understanding China instead of a unilateral emphasis on weapons and semiconductors.
The lack of knowledge about China is partly due to the political setup in Washington. Advocating for deeper cooperation with China, or even academic exchanges, has a political cost. Legislators and public opinion increasingly see China primarily as a threat, while voices calling for a more balanced approach recede into the background.
Moreover, internal political polarisation in the United States is reinforcing anti-Chinese sentiment. Blaming China has long served as a tool to unite American society and create consensus across political camps. In such an environment, calls for increased dialogue are marginalised and a tough stance towards China becomes a kind of „political correctness“.
The quest for economic and technological „separation“ has gradually turned into an ideology. This approach assumes that separation is not only possible but desirable. However, the ideological emphasis on self-sufficiency is crowding out the pragmatic knowledge needed to reduce misunderstandings and miscalculations.
This creates a vicious circle. With the decline of experts on China, alarmism about its development is growing in politics. The real strategic risk is that US policy is based on outdated assumptions, indirect impressions and an incomplete understanding of what China is building.
While direct dialogue will not eliminate all conflicts, it can make them more manageable. Face-to-face meetings help to better understand each other's priorities and red lines. Contacts alone do not guarantee agreements, but they can reduce the risk of dangerous mistakes.
At the same time, business circles and ordinary people in both countries are striving for friendlier relations and deeper mutual understanding. Instead of demonstrating an anti-China stance as a sign of „political correctness“, US politicians should visit China more often and get to know its reality. This is a necessary step to remove prejudices and stabilise the most important bilateral relationship in the world.
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