Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan and a longtime Democratic politician, says his country should apply the lessons of the Cold War to its global competition with China.
Emanuel, a leading critic of China in the Biden administration, said in an interview with Semaphore that the U.S. and its allies are working hard to stop what he calls China’s “economic coercion,” “mercantilism,” and “debt trap diplomacy.” He said a new coalition should be formed. For countries in Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world. The idea, which Mr. Emanuel described in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, includes a trade and defense alliance backed by NATO-like pledges in which the United States and its allies agree to provide economic aid to other countries when needed. This includes forming a It has become the target of China’s pressure campaign.
“While the 70 years of the Cold War were fraught with challenges and difficulties, I would say that our economic, political and security policies were more aligned and more integrated than you would expect today. ” Emanuel told Semaphore in a phone interview. He resisted the idea that the United States is in a Cold War with China, but added: “I think there are lessons to be learned from the Cold War about how to create coherence in deterrence.”
Mr. Emanuel also insisted that he did not seek the idea of an “Asian version of NATO” proposed by Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Mr. Emanuel believes that the United States has been successful in isolating China through security and diplomatic partnerships, but argued that the United States’ economic strategy related to pushing back on China requires work.
“We’ve been pretty effective as a counterweight to China. As I say, China, being an loner, is going to be isolated,” he said. “All I’m saying is that we have to implement an economic national strategy that is on par with what we are doing on the security front, on the political and diplomatic front.”
