Geopolitical Cold War with China would be ‘dreadful mistake,’ warns US economist

US politicians risk making a “dreadful mistake” by stoking a geopolitical Cold War with China, a renowned US economist has warned, reports news agency UNB quoting China news outlet Xinhua.

“The last Cold War was dangerous enough,” Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor at Columbia University and senior United Nations advisor, said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.

“This one would be even more dangerous. It’s completely misconceived and misguided, but a lot of Americans want to put it to China and think that we run the show, which is a very dangerous view of thinking,” he said.

Sachs noted that attacking China has become a bipartisan strategy for political gain in the United States, but a geopolitical Cold War with China would threaten global security in an already tumultuous period as the COVID-19 pandemic continues its spread across the world.

“While politics is a game, and a pretty tough one in the US, it’s an incredibly dangerous sport also, and to play with the facts and the lies that we’re saying about China right now has consequences,” Sachs told CNBC.

Sachs urged global leaders to cooperate on issues like climate change as the economy undergoes a “remarkably choppy period of disruption and transition.”

“If we face it as each one is on your own, then we’re going to look back with a lot of regret,” he said.

China rejects any attempt to create a so-called “new Cold War,” because it contravenes the fundamental interests of the Chinese and US people and the global trend toward development and progress, Chinese state councilor and foreign minister Wang Yi said earlier this month.

Anyone who tries to start a so-called “new Cold War” in the 21st century will be on the wrong side of history and will only be remembered as the one who has upended international cooperation, Wang told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.