The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2022 29 We need to be willing to take stronger measures—and accept the necessary costs and risks— to achieve the long-termgoals of the U.S. engagement policy that commenced 50 years ago. its indirect support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, it will be up to the Chinese people to decide on their own political system, but we need to continue supporting those in China who seek to advance political reforms and more constructive policies abroad. We cannot do that by just avoiding confrontation. We should take further steps to support the individual rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong, as well as assist the people of Taiwan in their fight to determine their own political future. As Martin Luther King wrote in 1963: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The clear message we should be sending by these actions is not that the United States is seeking to weaken China, but that China can continue to prosper only if it abides by the rules of the international order fromwhich it has greatly benefited. Given China’s interdependence with the world, the United States and its allies do have important leverage, but only if we are able to mobilize domestic and international support to use it. Doing so will be very difficult; and, frankly, I am not confident that it can be done as things stand today in the United States. Apart from Beijing’s retaliation against American businesses and industries, as well as more recent concerns about inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy, there will continue to be opposition from those concerned about the risks of an “adversarial” approach and the dangers of a “new Cold War.” But I would still argue that we cannot afford to wait much longer. As Nixon warned in 1967, “we could go disastrously wrong if, in pursuing this long-range goal, we failed in the short range to read the lessons of history.” n