Can China balance its national interests while maintaining a constructive foreign policy?

This appeared in The Millennial Source

Over the past several months, China’s international and domestic policies have become increasingly problematic in the eyes of many Western governments.

While long standing disputes — such as China’s territorial rights in the South China Sea and the alleged repression of ethnic minority Uighur communities in far-western Xinjiang — continue to grab headlines, the onset of the coronavirus and increasing encroachment on Hong Kong has added to the controversy.

Most recently, the United States and China exchanged tit-for-tat closures of their embassies in Houston and Chengdu, which was preceded by new sanctions by both the US and China — first from Washington in response to the situation in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and then from Beijing in retaliation for those sanctions.

While the relationship between the US and China has gotten a significant share of international attention, China’s relationship with other Western countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, is also taking a hit.

On July 28, China suspended extradition treaties for those countries’ residents in Hong Kong in response to those countries having suspended their own extradition…