US foreign policy is based on internal contradiction and a fatal flaw. Its goal is a US-dominated world where it will write global trade and economic rules, control advanced technology, maintain military superiority, and dominate all potential competitors. If US foreign policy does not change and does not recognize the need for a multipolar world, this will lead to new wars and possibly World War III.

The inherent contradiction of US foreign policy is that it runs counter to the UN Charter, which binds the United States (and all of its member states) to an international system based on UN institutions that is not dominated by any single country. The fatal flaw is that the US has only 4% of the world’s population and lacks the economic, financial, military, and technological capabilities, not to mention the moral and legal ambitions, to dominate the remaining 96%.

At the end of World War II, the United States vastly outnumbered the rest of the world in economic, technological, and military power. This is no longer the case as many countries have developed their economies and technological capabilities.

President Emmanuel Macron recently spoke the truth when he said that the European Union, although an ally of the US, does not want to be their vassal. He has faced many attacks in the US and Europe for expressing this view, because many moderate politicians in Europe depend on US political support to stay in power.

In 2015, US Ambassador Robert Blackwill, America’s leading foreign policy strategist, described America’s grand strategy with extraordinary clarity. He wrote: “Since its founding, the United States has consistently pursued a grand strategy to achieve and maintain superiority over various adversaries, first on the North American continent, then in the Western Hemisphere, and finally throughout the world,” and argued that “preserving superiority The US in the world system must remain the central goal of their grand strategy in the 21st century.”

To maintain American dominance over China, Blackwell has unveiled an operational plan followed by President Joe Biden. Among other measures, Blackwill urged the US to establish “new preferential trade agreements between friends and allies to increase their mutual benefits through mechanisms that deliberately exclude China” and a “technology control regime” to block China’s strategic options. enhance “the dynamic political capabilities of US friends and allies on China’s periphery” and reinforce US military forces along the Asian perimeter, despite any Chinese response.

Emmanuel Macron told the truth when he said that the European Union, although it is an ally of the United States, does not want to be their vassal.

Most US politicians, as well as many in the UK, EU, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, support the aggressive US approach. Not me. I believe that the US approach to China is contrary to the UN Charter and the world.

China has the right to prosperity and national security, free from American provocations around its borders. Her financial achievements since the late 1970s are remarkable both for herself and for the whole world.

During the long century from 1839 to 1949, China was reduced to extreme poverty during a period marked by European and Japanese invasions of its land and civil wars. China eventually recovered from that catastrophic period and in the process ended poverty for about a billion people!

China’s new prosperity can be both peaceful and productive for the world. Its cutting-edge technologies, from life-saving malaria cures to low-cost solar power and efficient 5G networks, could prove to be a boon to the world. China will only pose a threat to the extent that the US turns it into an enemy.

US foreign policy risks go beyond China. Their goal of expanding NATO to include Ukraine and Georgia, thus encircling Russia in the Black Sea, contributed to fueling the war in Ukraine. Countless countries see the dangers of this approach. All Member States of the UN must reaffirm their commitment to the Charter of the Organization and oppose claims to the sovereignty of any state.

J. Sachs is Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. www.jeffsachs.org.