The U.S. administration is reportedly weighing travel restrictions on all members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) from visiting the United States. If the reports are accurate, the United States would be closing the door of rational diplomacy and plunge further into the abyss of ignorance and ideological confrontation.

Such a hysterical move indicates that the United States would be standing in ridiculous opposition to the 1.4 billion Chinese people and will only prove to be detrimental to the interests of the Americans. Under the leadership of the CPC, Chinese people have gained independence, freedom and liberation. Guided by socialism with Chinese characteristics, more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty since the founding of the People’s Republic of China more than seven decades ago, a significant contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

As for the CPC’s governance philosophy, putting people first and foremost has always been its core ideal. China has secured major strategic achievements in containing COVID-19 within about three months after its outbreak. In order to protect people’s life and property, China adopted prompt measures to relocate about 3.76 million people from areas affected by floods and geological disasters over the past two months.

In a CPC Central Committee Political Bureau meeting held last week, “development for the benefit of the people” was reiterated for formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for Social and Economic Development.

Pathetically, a different picture is unraveling on the other side of the Pacific. With about 4.4 percent of the world’s population, the United States has seen its death toll from COVID-19 standing at nearly a quarter of the world’s total.

In disregard of facts, the U.S. administration resorts to one lie after another, from human rights, intellectual property to the South China Sea, in attacking the CPC. The China-smearing ploy serves as a fig leaf for poor pandemic response, shaky economy and failure to address social inequalities at home. In a recent article published on The Washington Post, Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, slammed some U.S. politicians’ slander against the CPC as “misrepresentation of history” and “undiplomatic.”

From its unilateral provocation of closing China’s consulate general in Houston to planned travel restrictions on CPC members, the United States is erecting a segregation wall of ideological confrontation that will push away investment, trade and other opportunities for boosting vitality.

For years, the U.S. national development has been deemed as a story of pioneering spirit and open-minded exchanges, but since when has it deteriorated into a blind hatred? The answer rests with the cold-war mentality deeply entrenched in some politicians, who are anxious about retaining the old “glory” of hegemony, coupled with strategic miscalculations about the CPC.

During his historic China visit nearly half a century ago, the then U.S. President Richard Nixon quoted President George Washington at a banquet: “Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.” This should serve as a resounding reminder to those who are hell-bent on making U.S. foreign policies arrogant and short-sighted.

Defaming the CPC and instigating discord are to no avail for “making America great again.” It is high time for the U.S. administration to adopt a rational and objective attitude in its cognition of the CPC and adhere to pragmatism in its China policy. Otherwise, ideological bias under the “America First” doctrine is doomed to backfire.