Which country is making greater and faster leaps than any other, when it comes to military strength and technological prowess? For many decades, the assumed answer to that question would have been the United States, but no longer, according to the person arguably more qualified to make that assessment than anyone else.
鈥淭he Chinese military is engaged in the largest buildup of any military in the last 30 or 40 years,鈥� said Nicholas Burns, MCAS 鈥�78, Harvard professor and former US ambassador to China, speaking at the twice-annual Clough Colloquium sponsored by the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. 鈥淭his is a big push for power, and the only force that can deter it while keeping the peace is the United States and our treaty allies and security partners.鈥�
Nicholas Burns, MCAS 鈥�78
At his Sept. 23 lecture in Gasson 100, Burns told a packed audience that technology is at the center of this competition, and China is advancing rapidly on that track as well. He pointed out that, at a time when the US is cutting back dramatically on federal funding for science and technology, "the Chinese are doubling and tripling theirs.鈥� Technologies such as AI, quantum computing, and biotech will be critical to amassing both military and economic power in the coming years, he noted.
Burns did express support for recent tariffs on Chinese goods, commenting that, as ambassador during the Biden administration, he was essentially implementing the first Trump administration鈥檚 tariffs on China, and that now, the Trump administration is effectively carrying out the Biden policy on tariffs toward China. 鈥淲e want to trade with China, we want to be fair with China, but we don鈥檛 want China鈥檚 artificially low-priced, manufactured exports to come in here and kill our industries,鈥� he explained.
Probably the most important area of competition with China, he said, is human freedom. 鈥淲e have a beef with China,鈥� said Burns, who is the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School and has served in various ambassadorial posts for both Democratic and Republican administrations over the past 30 years. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 believe in authoritarian rule. We believe people should have individual rights. So we鈥檙e contesting on all of these fronts: military, technology, economics, and human rights.鈥�
At the same time, Burns underscored the importance of US cooperation with China, when the interests of both nations align. That includes working together on issues such as climate change, drug trafficking, and public health with a view to the next pandemic, he said.
“We don鈥檛 believe in authoritarian rule. We believe people should have individual rights. So we鈥檙e contesting on all of these fronts: military, technology, economics, and human rights.”
According to Burns, America鈥檚 longstanding alliances with the democratic world are key to deterring Chinese power. On that score, 鈥渨hen we question Canadian sovereignty,鈥� or slap 50-percent tariffs on a strategic partner like India, 鈥渨e are pushing the allies away,鈥� he said, alluding to those and other stances taken by the Trump administration. He also criticized the recent dismantling of federal agencies that helped spread American ideas and goodwill abroad, particularly the United States Agency for International Development, the Voice of America, and Radio Free Asia. 鈥淲e鈥檝e given China an enormous break by deconstructing these three agencies,鈥� he said.
During the question-and-answer period, a long line of undergraduates stepped up to the microphone, and, perhaps not surprisingly, most were international students or others with ties to foreign countries including China and Canada. One student who described himself as a Chinese immigrant to the US asked Burns if he thought the US and China would ever regain the higher levels of cooperation the two countries enjoyed not too long ago.
Burns replied by pointing to 鈥渟tudents like you, an immigrant to the United States鈥攜ou鈥檙e a bridge between those two cultures and a very positive bridge鈥濃�攁s well as to tourists, international business people, and many others who could build better relationships from the ground up. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not enemies. We鈥檙e competitors, we鈥檙e rivals. We can choose confrontation and war, or we can choose competition,鈥� he said.
Aside from China, Burns began the lecture with a tribute to his alma mater, saying that Boston College 鈥済ave us a way of thinking about our lives 鈥� and the need to develop ethical guideposts.鈥� The former ambassador and career foreign service officer will return to the Heights on May 1 to headline the annual Boston College Finance Conference hosted by the Carroll School of Management.
