Veteran US diplomat: US confronts China to protect supremacy, not security

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Veteran US diplomat Chas Freeman says that despite talk of a New Cold War between the US and China, the US in reality is reacting aggressively to a rising Chinese power whose economic gains threaten US global supremacy.

Freeman, who served in top State Department positions and as Richard Nixon's chief interpreter on his historic 1972 visit to China, discusses the state of US-China relations and flashpoints such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the repression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

"Since around 1870, we have been the preeminent society on the planet -- the wealthiest and technologically most advanced, the most influential. And China's overtaking us," Freeman says. "So there's a psychological issue here. The good deal of what we're doing is better explained by psychology than by statecraft. China does threaten American economic supremacy, may have already passed us in many ways... Whether that's a threat or not depends on your perceptions. We've chosen to treat it as a national security or a military threat. It'll be very good for the military industrial complex for a while."

Guest: Chas Freeman. Veteran U.S. diplomat and public servant who has served in many senior positions, including as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Director for Chinese Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and as the principal US interpreter during President Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972.