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The troubling police shootings of two black men this week, one in Minnesota and one in Louisiana, followed on Thursday night by the fatal shooting of five white Dallas police officers and the wounding of seven others (in what authorities are calling an ambush of officers during a protest of the earlier fatal shootings) – not only shows deepening racial divisions in the country but also impacts the U.S. in ways many Americans fail to appreciate.
U.S. loses moral high ground
While, for most of its history, the U.S. has usually taken the moral and ethical high ground abroad, promulgating human rights and the rule of law,
For example, the U.S. lifted the ban on weapons technology sales to Vietnam when President Obama visited the country in May. While in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Obama lectured the country’s officials on the need to improve its dismal human rights record. As is often the case, Vietnamese officials listen patiently to American human rights and free speech lectures, then pretty much do what they want to do.
However, as the fabric of American society is ripped apart in real time in front of the world on social media and cable news, the U.S. message looks disingenuous. How can the U.S. take the high moral ground in light of the ongoing gun drama and continued killings unfolding almost every week?
In Ho Chi Minh City yesterday, I was describing another Southeast Asian country known for its violence, guns and extra judicial killings, and my Vietnamese acquaintance quipped, “Well maybe it’s still not as dangerous a place to live as the U.S.”
I’ve heard similar expressions all over the Asia-Pacific region for more than a decade, including from young Chinese students who are interested in studying in the U.S., but whose parents are terrified of sending their children to the “dangerous U.S.A.”
Moreover, as the U.S. continues to take the moral high ground over global injustices, including Russia’s involvement in Ukraine and its 2015 seizure and annexation of Crimea, all the time preaching international law and human rights, it also loses credibility.
The current state of decline in the U.S. is also not lost in Beijing. Washingon has been Beijing’s harshest critic over its dubious claim to more than 80% of the South China Sea, and the country’s land reclamation and artificial island building.
China: “Dangerous U.S. gun culture”
However, while the U.S. condemns China’s violation of international law in the troubled body of water, it can not enforce the rule of law at home.
After the fatal Ferguson shooting in 2014, China took notice. “Americans love their guns” was the common phrase echoed from a number of commentators on Chinese social network Weibo, according to a South China Morning Post report at the time.
“[Owning and using guns] is still considered a ‘normal’ thing in the US, simply because it’s a so-called ‘democratic’ country,” wrote one Weibo user.
China even boasts a news website devoted solely to following U.S. shootings. Commenting on a Dallas police shootings article, several readers juxtaposed the “U.S. gun culture” to the U.S. “meddling in the South and East China Sea.” Another reader said “Americans still feel frustrated in the South China Sea, [but] can not take care of your own selves at home.”
Xinhua, the official mouth piece of the CCP, said in late 2014 that the “Ferguson incident once again demonstrates that even if in a country that has for years tried to play the role of an international human rights judge and defender, there is still much room for improvement at home.”
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