The Atlantic Council, the public policy arm of the military-industrial complex, cosponsored a conference on Feb. 21-22 entitled “China in the Global South: Development and Influence in a Shifting Global Order.” Keynoting the first day , Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, the point-person at State on China policy, made clear the U.S. objections to any changes in the present world order as outlined in many Chinese statements.
“China benefits from global stability even as it tries to undercut it,” Kritenbrink said. And how does China “undercut” it? “The P.R.C. has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad,” Kritenbrink asserted. “And the P.R.C. is advancing an alternative vision for global governance.” Kritenbrink named the major elements of China’s “outreach”: the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Belt and Road Initiative, calling them “programs that undercut collective defense and environmental standards”! He also claimed that China was attempting to reframe “human rights” as a privilege of the West.
Kritenbrink claimed that U.S. policy toward the Global South is not defined in opposition to China, nor does it force countries to choose. Rather, he said, it promotes the visions of “a world where rules, norms and institutions prevail over outdated and dangerous concepts of might making right…. Of course, we can’t deny that strategic competition is also a critical part of this moment,” he went on to admit.
