ABSTRACT
The quote pinpoints the fundamental difference between US and Chinese security policies. Washington conducts a relatively straightforward policy of implementing measures of pre-emption, unilateralism and hegemony assisted by its alliance system with the purpose of spreading liberal democracy and the rule of law. The policy is dominated by the belief that US economic and military superiority gives Washington the necessary means to impose its will upon other states. The advantage of US policies is that its means and purpose are clear. Washington makes no secret of its intention to discard the old principles and practices of the Cold War based on a belief in the moral superiority of its own ideals of state conduct. In the 1990s, the United States experimented with a policy of persuasion at a time when it was hoped that the mere attractions of the liberal model of state and society were sufficient to convince the surroundings that the US version of international order was the only attractive alternative left following the discrediting of communism with the implosion of the Soviet Union. The returns on this accommodating policy proved to be low because beyond the Western hemisphere, numerous states refused to buy into Washington’s ideas of how states are to manage political authority to produce the greatest benefits for the largest number of people. In particular, the widespread authoritarianstyle governments were less than thrilled with the prospects of being subjected to popular demands that might not only bring down the incumbent, but also engender the disintegration of states still struggling to create coherent nations whose loyalty was firmly directed towards the state apparatus.
