Storella Publishes Op-Ed on China’s Narratives About U.S.
Ambassador Mark C. Storella, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an op-ed in The Hill on Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese narratives about the United States.
In the article, titled “The true story of Xi Jinping,” Storella discusses China’s narrative – propagated by Xi Jinping – of America’s role in the “Century of Humiliation,” namely how the depiction of the U.S. as a tormentor of China. During a recent summit held with diplomats from the U.S. and China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Foreign Affairs Chief Yang Jiechi asked, “So have the Chinese people not suffered enough in the past from the foreign countries?” While U.S. relations with China have not been spotless throughout history, Storella argues that these claims are is demonstrably false and threaten the future U.S.-China dealings.
An excerpt:
Beijing’s one-sided depiction of the U.S. as bent on undermining China threatens to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Americans read China’s narrative as unfounded hostility toward the U.S. Moreover, anti-U.S. animosity stoked by Chinese leaders among the Chinese people may prove hard to control.
A new cold war between the U.S. and China is not inevitable. But false PRC narratives about U.S. behavior toward China will only contribute to a further souring of relations.
The full op-ed can be read on The Hill‘s website.
Ambassador Mark C. Storella was a United States Foreign Service Officer for over three decades serving as Ambassador to Zambia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, and Dean of the Leadership and Management School of the Foreign Service Institute. Storella is recipient of the Presidential Rank Award, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Excellence in Service Award, the Thomas Jefferson Award presented by American Citizens Abroad, and several Department of State superior and meritorious honor awards. Learn more about Ambassador Storella on his faculty profile.