As China begins to celebrate the coming Chinese New Year of the Dragon, a senior Chinese diplomat was asked by The Schiller Institute how China assesses the current Anglo-American policy of publicly mouthing the words of supporting the One China principle, yet violating that UN Charter-derived principle by arming Taiwan province, by sending high-level political delegations to Taipei, and by continuously sending U.S. naval warships through the 81 mile narrow Taiwan Strait.
The senior figure replied that the Chinese have long understood the virtue of patience. Being a continuous civilization extending over 5,000 years, the Chinese leadership has learned not to take a momentary perspective—for instance, a four-year election cycle in the West. In other words, “Deploy for the best, but prepare for the worst.” This sheds light on China’s current diplomacy of engaging the U.S. and Europe through many, many lines of governmental dialogue—so-called “improving relations”—while simultaneously warning that the aggressive threats from Global NATO to break away Taiwan province will, if realized, lead to war. China is not fooled. “Deploy for the best, but prepare for the worst.”
