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It's in US interests to engage China
By Ni Tao |
August 18, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
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Q: Europe seems to welcome Chinese investment and bailout of its public debts. American politicians view Chinese firms with suspicion and worry China owns too much of their debts. Is Europe's receptiveness to China born partly of weakness and US misgivings about China a result of, say, relative strength?
A: (Ed: The first part of the answer appeared yesterday in the opinion article titled "We're in choppy economic waters." )
There is in the US a sense of the emerging rise of China that in the end will challenge US global hegemony. Europe doesn't think this way any longer. America's hegemony has grown after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. And now suddenly the US is confronted by serious, really big problems, economic, financial, domestic and China.
And I think it's created a sense of unease that the American century is coming to an end. And Americans are very sensitive to those kinds of issues : Who is No. 1? Is China going to become No. 1 economically?
Goldman Sachs famously said in 2001 that over the next 25 years China will become the No.1 economy. And all that is playing into the worrying in the US about its position in the world.
The other issue is a political one which has to do with party politics in America. It becomes useful in the lead-up to congressional, presidential elections to play what I call is the "China card," "China-bashing card." We are moving toward an election year and the Republicans are desperately keen to represent Obama as being weak.
By representing Obama as being weak, one of the areas where they can indicate that he's really weak is that America is losing to China. But in the end it's always in US interests to engage China. It's not a short-term relationship, it goes back to 1972, to Richard Nixon, to Henry Kissinger, to the Shanghai Communique and to the moment when the PRC adopted its seat at the United Nations.
Each of the American presidents since Nixon may have an agenda but they know it's in their interests to stay the course in their China policy. There are areas of great differences, though. There's no point hiding from them. We are not children. But these differences occur within a broad framework which is, broadly speaking, mutually beneficial. It's a complicated relationship, it's not just credit, alliance, mutual benefit. It's also competition, different visions of world order.
Ultimately China may prefer to see a multipolar world, while the US may want to preserve a unipolar world. The biggest challenge for the Chinese (Communist) Party leadership is how this transition, this power shift, will be negotiated.
If we get this relationship wrong, we are in deep trouble. China will be in deep trouble.
To be continued
A: (Ed: The first part of the answer appeared yesterday in the opinion article titled "We're in choppy economic waters." )
There is in the US a sense of the emerging rise of China that in the end will challenge US global hegemony. Europe doesn't think this way any longer. America's hegemony has grown after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. And now suddenly the US is confronted by serious, really big problems, economic, financial, domestic and China.
And I think it's created a sense of unease that the American century is coming to an end. And Americans are very sensitive to those kinds of issues : Who is No. 1? Is China going to become No. 1 economically?
Goldman Sachs famously said in 2001 that over the next 25 years China will become the No.1 economy. And all that is playing into the worrying in the US about its position in the world.
The other issue is a political one which has to do with party politics in America. It becomes useful in the lead-up to congressional, presidential elections to play what I call is the "China card," "China-bashing card." We are moving toward an election year and the Republicans are desperately keen to represent Obama as being weak.
By representing Obama as being weak, one of the areas where they can indicate that he's really weak is that America is losing to China. But in the end it's always in US interests to engage China. It's not a short-term relationship, it goes back to 1972, to Richard Nixon, to Henry Kissinger, to the Shanghai Communique and to the moment when the PRC adopted its seat at the United Nations.
Each of the American presidents since Nixon may have an agenda but they know it's in their interests to stay the course in their China policy. There are areas of great differences, though. There's no point hiding from them. We are not children. But these differences occur within a broad framework which is, broadly speaking, mutually beneficial. It's a complicated relationship, it's not just credit, alliance, mutual benefit. It's also competition, different visions of world order.
Ultimately China may prefer to see a multipolar world, while the US may want to preserve a unipolar world. The biggest challenge for the Chinese (Communist) Party leadership is how this transition, this power shift, will be negotiated.
If we get this relationship wrong, we are in deep trouble. China will be in deep trouble.
To be continued
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