Shen Dingli: Beware of the viciousness of the factional struggle in US diplomacy

Source: Global Times

Based on the assumption that "human nature is inherently evil", the founding fathers of the United States designed a system of checks and balances that is different from the traditional European system of checks and balances, that is, through the "inefficient democracy" of the separation of powers, to prevent the collapse of the system itself. This was added to political party checks, "judicial independence", and media surveillance to promote pluralism in the domestic ideological sphere. While anticipating the cumbersome procedures for U.S. domestic and foreign policy decisions, this set of practices at least accommodates the ideas and suggestions of diplomatic factions, helps the top authorities of the United States to obtain more policy choices in foreign policy decisions, and has also promoted the rational governance of the United States, which is an institutional factor for the United States to climb the world's peak.

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There are many actors involved in the U.S. diplomatic faction. Traditionally, this includes, first and foremost, the legal head of U.S. diplomacy, the executive branch headed by the White House. At the same time, the United States has allowed national legislatures to intervene to some extent in diplomatic legislation to limit the discretion of the executive branch in its foreign conduct. Usually, such interventions by the U.S. Congress complement and balance rather than subvert the administration's diplomatic mandate. In addition, the Media, think tanks, and intellectuals in the United States are often involved in national public policy debates to a certain extent, and their people also enter the government through the "revolving door" from time to time to directly handle foreign affairs.

Of course, capital is never absent when making major decisions in the United States, and in recent years, large American companies, especially big data companies, are increasingly affecting the public's perception of public affairs, including diplomacy, which will inevitably be reflected in the selection of public opinion representatives at all levels in the United States through political operations, and ultimately affect the process of the emergence of the President of the United States.

However, this tedious and lengthy "democratic" trick is facing an increasing impact in the contemporary era, and the "administratively-led, bipartisan" morality of the United States' once-effective foreign policy is being seriously impacted. The ubiquitous polarization of partisanship no longer sees policy competition among foreign factions as a process of self-improvement in the state's foreign behavior, but as a tool for domestic power struggles.

If during the "Cold War" the diplomatic factions in the United States were able to unite with the outside world in view of the existence of the Soviet Union and the competitive pressure exerted by it, then after the end of the "Cold War", the domestic political struggle in the United States has begun to be free to fly. From Clinton to Biden, the United States has two parties of five presidents alternately appeared, they all adopted the practice of subverting the previous dynasty, which made the United States' foreign relations constantly fractured and misplaced, and even made it difficult for the US allies to adapt, which was especially obvious during the Trump administration.

The successive withdrawal of the United States from various international organizations and statutes during the Trump era not only damaged the international credibility and leadership of the United States, but also seriously damaged regional security and global development, and completely subverted the liberal concept of AMERICAN diplomacy for 70 years since the end of World War II. After Biden took office, the number of diplomatic factions in the United States increased unabated. At present, although the democratic and republican parties have a broad understanding of the constraints on China, their views on how to deal with China are very different. There are a number of "Zhihua factions" and some "hardliners" within the US executive branch. This gives Biden more opportunities to exercise and lead the wisdom of a general, and more challenges to his balancing and coordinating his cabinet's decrees. After Biden came to power, the first thing he began to do was to coordinate the policies of his own cabinet and restore the partnership of the allies. However, in terms of relations with China, in view of the increasingly severe public opinion environment and overall containment of the United States, Biden has adopted a cautious approach of "one look, two slow, and three passes" and gradually initiated and resumed a number of dialogues with China. It should be said that at a time when the US diplomatic factional struggle is becoming vicious and inferior, Sino-US relations are facing many obstacles to returning to the correct track of healthy and stable development.

However, the vicious competition among the US diplomatic factions is far from over. At present, those in the US Congress who are very active in the issue of restricting and sanctioning China are essentially in line with the goal of the executive branch to balance China, but they have repeatedly attacked in the way and intensity of suppressing China, and there is a great potential to replace the executive branch in formulating China policy. It is reported that the US Congress still has a number of restraint bills to be voted on, and the passage of any of them will limit the constitutional authorization of the executive branch to carry out diplomacy with China and hinder biden's administrative space in the diplomatic field. This situation not only has troubled the turnaround of Sino-US relations, but also essentially brought serious negative constraints to the formulation of the United States' own foreign policy.

Originally, the domestic power constraints designed by the founding fathers of the United States were designed to avoid serious mistakes in the introduction of policies. During the Vietnam War, anti-war forces within the U.S. government worked with the media to expose the authorities' misrepresentation of military information in order to prolong the war, thus arousing anti-war awareness among the people and promoting the early end of the war. Even since the United States launched the "war on terror" in this century, Snowden has exposed the illegal surveillance of the American people and even allied governments by the US authorities on the grounds of "counter-terrorism". This kind of practice of blowing itself up on major U.S. foreign policy issues, thereby stimulating domestic debate and thus improving relevant national policies, is a benign mechanism for the United States to correct its mistakes. Such healthy competition among the U.S. diplomatic factions as a whole is conducive to the continuous correction of U.S. public policy.

However, excessive competition, vicious competition, false public welfare, and competition for the sake of competition go beyond the original intention of competition to serve the improvement of US foreign policy, and its consequences are bound to harm others and harm themselves. After several years of turmoil in Sino-US relations, it is necessary for people of insight between the two countries to be vigilant and guard against vicious competition among the US diplomatic factions. The big ship of Sino-US relations must adhere to the upward course of safeguarding the common interests of the two peoples. (The author is a professor at Fudan University)