US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Photo: AFP

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan threatened both China and Russia during his interviews with different media on Sunday. For Russia, he claimed that the US is preparing “another package of sanctions” in the case of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. This has shocked many people’s expectations of US-Russia relations after the two leaders’ summit. Sullivan also took a coercive tone to request China to cooperate with the further investigation into the origins of COVID-19; otherwise, China will face “isolation in the international community.” The US will not “simply accept China saying no,” he said.

Sullivan has shown typical American arrogance of calling white black. Perhaps he and his colleagues think that the US’ strength can support them to do whatever they want, and they may believe the recent summits held by Western countries prove that the US still maintains the mobilization power to arbitrarily isolate a large country like China. When targeting China in his interview on Sunday, he used the phrase “from that position of strength.”

The US is indeed the strongest country in the world. But the US ruling elites have seriously overestimated the international coercive force its national strength can produce. The US is still struggling with the Korean Peninsula and Iran issues, and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars it initiated have ended in chaos. Over the past one or two decades, the US has failed to do anything neatly and cleanly. When Sullivan confidently threatened China and Russia, his gestures were as hilarious as a bad boy in an elementary school class.

China and Russia will undoubtedly refute Sullivan strongly. If Sullivan has normal self-esteem, he should feel a wind relentlessly blowing his spittle back to his own face.

China will not accept any investigation by US intelligence agencies. If we find any trace of US intelligence agencies taking action in China, we will immediately strike heavily. The US does not have the final say on the origins tracing conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO). It must be carried out according to normal procedures. WHO experts have already conducted investigation in China and made their conclusion. The tracing of the COVID-19 origins needs to be done in multiple places in the world, including the US. This order of investigation cannot be changed by the US alone.

Navalny serving jail sentence is Russia’s domestic affair. The more the US intervenes in it, the more clearly it shows that this is beyond Washington’s ability. On the one hand, the US intends to ease relations with Russia. On the other hand, it wants to bluff over the Navalny issue. When the US’ self-contradiction collides with Russia’s firm attitude of sticking to its principles, Washington will never take any advantage from it.

The US’ advantage in strength cannot support the reckless display of its bad attitude toward China and Russia. The US cannot do anything to China and Russia, and this is the reality that the world can see and understand. The Trump administration made its efforts for years to weaken Beijing and Moscow, and it failed. Now the Biden administration has even fewer resources to flaunt its superiority. It wants to unite its allies to contain China and Russia, but it is ridiculous that it thinks this will have any strategic effect.

What most European allies can contribute to the US is hollow words. They will never offer real benefits. The US wants to use the alliance system of the Cold War era to support a different kind of competition in the era of globalization – this is just like the US needs to build walls but the tool it finds is a cotton machine. China and Russia are not afraid of Washington’s new attempt of roping in allies. On the contrary, every move between China and Russia to further strengthen strategic cooperation can frighten many US and Western elites.

The arrogant US ruling elites should curtail their arrogance. China and Russia will not take the initiative in provoking the US and its allies, but if they encounter new serious provocations, the two countries’ counterattack will be determined and immediate. In addition, we need to remind the US that it does not own UN agencies such as the WHO, nor can the West represent the international community. Washington needs to have more sense of shame and have a clearer estimation of itself.