BUT current speech acts of China threats only further alienate China and ruins all ties which makes conflict inevitable

Many Americans are nervous about looming future competition with China. One¶ business man returning from a visit to China “came away acutely perceptive and fearful¶ of whether America is willing and able to compete with a nation so focused, so¶ energetic, so willing to do what it takes to prosper in this new century.”83 Senior Fellow,¶ Jonathan D. Pollack, of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution,¶ says that “China looms large in the American consciousness.”84 Adding to the¶ nervousness are several books indicating tension in US-Chinese relations. For¶ example, Aaron Friedberg recently wrote China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery¶ in Asia. Other titles include Living with the Dragon: How the American Public Views the Rise of China by Benjamin Page and Tao Xie and Superpower Struggles: Mighty¶ America, Faltering Europe, Rising China by John Redwood. Several recent journal¶ articles speak to the same subject. For instance, the National Defense University¶ publication, Joint Force Quarterly, published five articles specifically addressing USChinese¶ relations between the 4th Quarter 2011 and 1st Quarter 2012 issues. Military¶ leaders also feed public concerns, last fall, Admiral Robert Willard, the new head of¶ United States Pacific Command, noted that “in the past decade or so, China has¶ executed most of our intelligence estimates of their military capability implying that¶ maybe the alarmists are on to something.”¶ 85 It is apparent that “there is deep strategic¶ mistrust between the two countries. China’s rapid economic growth, steady military¶ modernization, and relentless nationalistic propaganda at home are shaping Chinese¶ public expectations and limiting possibilities for compromise with other powers.”¶ 86 Many Americans simply are not comfortable with a growing and influential Communist China. In July 2011 “John Birch Society members passed out literature and held up signs on the sidewalk in front of the National Governors Association Conference opposing new coziness with Communist China.”87 As we decipher whether the United States is helping to construct a future environment of high tension with China, we must remember that our speech acts highlighting Chinese “violation” of norms, as we interpret them, might only exacerbate the problem and alienate China further. According to TIME Magazine’s Michael Schuman, “Simplistic sloganeering that goes on in the United States about China only intensifies those problems and makes them harder to resolve.” 88 21 Understanding constructivism in an international theory context, and understanding that speech acts create rules and norms about how actors view issues, sets the foundation for understanding that the United States is helping to make an enemy out of China. Our numerous defense policy documents, combined with speech acts generated by our nation’s senior leaders, only fuel the negative image of China among the American people. This process becomes self-feeding and self-perpetuating. Interpretation of these speech acts and ideas is not a one sided event. While the United States domestic population interprets ideas about China, Chinese leadership and the Chinese people are doing the same. Constructivist theory predicts that when two sides continuously refer to one another in hostile and wary terms, they will “construct” a scenario in which they become enemies. The United States arguably has painted China as an enemy and security threat while at the same time identifying it as an economic competitor on the world stage. Actions by the United States decision-makers, and speech acts by United States leaders, are creating an environment of increasing hostility and mistrust. As we survey documents, speeches, and media, we can see that the constructivists may well be right. We may be “constructing” our enemy of the future.¶