China and US must learn to walk in each other's shoes
- Source: Globaltimes
- [22:45 March 01 2010]
- Comments
Imagine, for example, having some Chinese and US top-level officials exchange jobs for a few weeks. Obviously, both countries would want to put some safeguards in place to protect national secrets, but there would be mutual benefit from our countries developing empathy for one another.
A little far-fetched? Then how about if our countries employ psychodrama, a therapeutic technique psychologists sometime use in group therapy that encourages individuals to broaden their perspectives. In psychodramas, persons typically take on roles of other participants in group settings, thereby learning to identify the challenges confronting those persons.
China and the US could confront some of their problems together with members of the Chinese government role playing US Cabinet members and US officials adopting the perspectives of central government members.
Okay, okay. So maybe the idea that our top officials are going to jobshare or role-play their alter-egos is a bit outrageous. But a shift in perspective is essential if we are to work alongside one another.
Our current diplomacy in which each side sends representatives to meet and greet, visit the Great Wall or the Statue of Liberty, and enjoy a few good meals together doesn't seem destined to produce any substantive change in our attitudes toward one another. We might instead explore how to overcome our differences in crafting mutually beneficial policies.
The point is the more we know about one another and appreciate the challenges we both face, the more likely we are to begin to change the world in unilaterally positive ways.
That's a whole lot better than trying to manage our differences with one country trying to tell the other one what to do.
The author is a fellow of the US-based Institute for Analytic Journalism. patrickmattimore1@yahoo.com
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