US’ distorted view of the China threat risks creating a cold war nightmare

China is no innocent bystander and many of its actions deserve a strong international response

But paranoia among US and its allies distorts their view of China – from being a mild revisionist power seeking influence to representing an existential threat

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Nicholas Ross Smith

Nicholas Ross Smith is an adjunct fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Published: 1:30am, 22 Apr 2021Updated: 4:59am, 22 Apr 2021

After spending a summer in the Soviet Union in 1960, American psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner came to believe that the intensifying Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was mostly a product of distorted perceptions.

Bronfenbrenner observed five common distortions: (1) they are the aggressors; (2) their government exploits and deludes the people; (3) the masses are not really sympathetic to the regime; (4) they cannot be trusted, and; (5) their policy verges on madness.

For Bronfenbrenner, this phenomenon was best metaphorised as a mirror image in twisted glass. The problem was that such distortions resulted in dangerous escalations and made rationally unthinkable outcomes, such as nuclear war, seem a potential necessary evil to stop the other side from fulfilling their dark desires.

There has been much hullabaloo recently about whether the Sino-American relationship is entering a cold war. This is despite there being very little resemblance between this relationship and the US-Soviet relationship.