Former US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell Photo: VCG

When commenting on assertions made by former US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell in Wednesday interview with Bloomberg Television, who claimed that it would take "a generation" to diversify some of the US dependency on China for rare earths and other segments of global supply chains, a Chinese expert pointed out that regardless of pace, the very notion of decoupling from China is a departure from the actual state of China-US relations and a misinterpretation of the overall international trend.

Campbell told Bloomberg on Wednesday that it will take "a generation" to diversify some of the US dependency on China for rare earths and other segments of global supply chains. In the interview, he also claimed that doesn't mean Beijing holds the "economic upper hand" over Washington.

"There are certain areas where China could do enormous damage to American manufacturing and high-tech, but it's also the case that the US can take actions that would really impact the Chinese economy," Campbell asserted.

Campbell, who also served as National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific in the Biden administration, attempted to defend efforts made by the previous government to reduce the US economic reliance on China. 

"It turns out that the effort to diversify, in terms of rare earths and other supply chains, is unbelievably difficult,"Campbell admitted in the interview.

Regarding the reckless tariff policy adopted by the current US administration, the former deputy secretary also expressed so-called concern about the targeting of American allies as well as "rivals" such as China as part of Washington's tariff war. "Some of that is not well conceived. I think it has created a lot of confusion," he said. "There is no sense of a longer-term strategy."

Campbell told Bloomberg Television that China and US recognize that they both are "probably the two most interdependent countries economically, commercially, strategically in the world."

While Campbell acknowledges the fact of coexistence, he fails to recognize the necessity of strengthening that coexistence, instead interpreting the situation as a gradual decoupling, Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday when commenting on Campbell's remark claiming it would take "a generation" to diversify some of the US dependency on China.

"Given the strong economic complementarity between China and the US, any form of hard decoupling, slow decoupling, or so-called de-risking will ultimately harm both parties," Li said. 

"Only through mutual cooperation can the global economy ensure its health," the expert said.

According to Xinhua News Agency on June 11, during the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism held in London with US lead person Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng has said that the US should resolve trade disputes with China through equal dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation.

China reiterates that the US should work with China to honor their words with actions, and demonstrate sincerity in keeping commitments and concrete efforts to implement consensus, so as to jointly safeguard the hard-won outcomes of dialogue, He said.

During the talks, the two sides held candid and in-depth talks, and thoroughly exchanged views on economic and trade issues of mutual concern, Xinhua reported.

In April, Campbell co-authored an article in American journal Foreign Affairs where he warned "the American estimation of China has lurched from one extreme to the other."

In the article, Campbell claimed "after the 2008 financial crisis, and then especially at the height of the COVID pandemic, many observers believed that day had come" when China might "overtake a strategically distracted and politically paralyzed United States." 

But, he continued, "the pendulum swung to the other extreme only a few years later," believing "China would not overtake an ascendant United States." He pointed out that "Washington shifted from pessimism to overconfidence." He warned today's "triumphalism" risks "dangerously underestimating both the latent and actual power of the only competitor in a century whose GDP has surpassed 70 percent of that of the United States."

"The oscillation in US evaluations and characterizations of China does not obscure the objective reality: when the US adopts radical policies towards China, it is often based on misinterpretations of China's intentions and actions, as well as a flawed understanding of the realities of bilateral relations and broader international trends," Li told the Global Times on Thursday. 

The expert noted that American politicians need to cultivate a basic sense of reflection and an ethos of equality in their dealings with China and their understanding of the world so as to create mutually beneficial bilateral ties.