Perspectivation on Japan and China: The USA as Victim of ‘Unfair’ and ‘Illiberal’ Policies

Abstract

The analytic category of perspectivation focuses on the point of view from which the nominations, predications and argumentations are expressed, and the mode of differentiation between Self and Other that this entails. In both cases, Congress mainly sees the USA as a victim of unfair policies. In the case of Japan it is possibly facing decline, because it has become economically inferior and indebted to, and thus ‘dependent on’, Japan. Japan in turn is leaving no other choice for the USA than to retaliate with protectionist measures. This ‘no other choice’ perspective is one way of dealing with the dislocatory effect on the USA’s self-understanding as a free trader, as the protectionist measures contradict this feature. With China, there are two main conflicting identity perspectives: Should the USA push for political liberalization by engaging with China through free trade, as in the liberal theory of history view? Or should it deal with the human rights issue in a more direct, confrontational way that would include protectionist and retaliatory trade measures? The question arises whether ‘the problem’ with China will evolve in the same way as it has with Japan in the past.