Americans see children playing ball and think it's an atrocity. They fantasize about breaking open the Three Gorges dam and drowning millions as punishment for having the gall to think they can surpass them. I think I realized this when America, without any provocation, sanctioned Nvidia chips in China, trying to cut them off from a vast and critical field of civilian technology. There is no clearer statement that America is hostile to Chinese advancement and will only tolerant a subservient, under developed china as a base for raw materials and cheap manufacturing.

If you're a westerner who thinks "Orientalism" is just a 50 cent word for racism when it's directed against the Orient, you need to learn more about such an important concept. Orientalism intimately links knowledge about the Orient with control of the Orient. the link between knowledge production and state projects authorizes a birds-eye view of the Orient that categorizes knowledge about the orient in such a way as that positions the observer as superior in every respect (more rational, logical, scientific, realistic, objective, empathetic).

I don't see any benefit to shutting down dialogue with America, but it would probably be a mistake to engage in any way that puts constraints on their actions; America has shown this is always a temporary pause while they try outmaneuver them. They can limit themselves to the most immediate of agreements, and even try insisting that only treaties ratified by congress will be binding. In that case, the US President will have to go to the people and argue a consistent and credible stance to China, not stoking the flames of hatred with one hand while offering bad faith deals with the other. In the current congressional make up however, this would effectively mean a complete standstill in diplomacy. no doubt Americans take it as a severe insult when the "lesser peoples" insist they be engaged with legally binding treaties.