My Take | To eat or be eaten: Blinken’s culinary view of world politics
- Top American diplomat said a mouthful when he wheeled out the adage about being ‘on the menu’ if you are not at the table as a dining guest
Call it the restaurant theory of international relations. As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken explained at the Munich Security Conference more than a week ago, “if you’re not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu”.
He was responding to a question about rising US-China tensions, and the “greater fragmentation” they are causing to global politics.
The comment has set the Chinese blogosphere ablaze. In an editorial, the Global Times gave it a colourful Chinese translation: “If you’re not the knife and the chopping board, you’ll be the fish and meat on the board.”
That’s not quite literal and is a bit more sensational than the original, which seems to be a favourite among American politicians. For an amusing history of the saying, I refer you to quoteinvestigator.com.
Every now and then, political leaders let slip what they really think, rather than what they have been telling others. So Blinken, or Mr Rules-based International System, was speaking his mind, for once.
But, who decides on the guest list and what’s on the menu? I think we all know what Washington thinks about that.