American Sinophobia

By STEPHEN S. ROACH – Project Syndicate

As America’s Sinophobia has become increasingly bipartisan, fear is starting to take on the aura of fact, and the dangers of accidental conflict with China are intensifying. Worse, by acting on these anxieties, the US risks inciting the very outcome it wants to deter: Chinese aggression against Taiwan.

NEW HAVEN – The current wave of anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States has been building for years. It started in the early 2000s, when US policymakers first raised national-security concerns about Huawei. China’s national technology champion, the market leader in developing new 5G telecommunications equipment, was accused of deploying digital backdoors that could enable Chinese espionage and cyber-attacks. US-led sanctions in 2018-19 stopped Huawei dead in its tracks.

But Huawei was just the start.