An Asian View of China

In a recent issue, Foreign Affairs published a series of essays about China, looking at the country from a Chinese and an Asian perspective rather than from the viewpoint of a Western expert on China as is the usual approach.

A Chinese Perspective
While the essays by the mainland Chinese writers, one an academic, the other a leader of a think tank, have to be read with a degree of skepticism, there are some interesting ideas there.

First is the recognition that China’s rise to power has been peaceful; unlike Germany and Japan, for example, they have not gone to war to make the gains they have in the past thirty years. They realize that, while the gains have been considerable, they still have a long way to go. They rate the country as a “low-income developing” one, whose economy is ranked at about 100^th in the world; they don’t expect to become a “modernized, medium-level developed country” until 2050.

In the long run, they view as inevitable the arrival of a multi-lateral world where the US is not the sole primary power; however, they recognize that, in the short run, we are #1. Not surprisingly, they see almost all the same serious domestic problems here that observant Americans see: “swelling trade and fiscal deficits, illegal immigration, inadequate health care, violent crime, major income disparities, a declining educational system and a deeply divided electorate”.

And, they see our international problems as well: the Iraq war has isolated us from our natural allies; we’re becoming a pariah with many Islamic nations; prisoner abuse calls into question our commitment to human rights; we have trouble coming to agreements with other countries re trade, environmental, arms control, the UN, economic issues. That’s fine with them as “so long as the United States’ image remains tainted, China will have greater leverage in multilateral settings”.

In terms of specific US-China issues, three countries are mentioned: Japan, North Korea and Taiwan. They believe that with regards to Japan and China “the United States has pushed China and Japan further apart”. They urge a go slow attitude with North Korea and a resumption of the six-nation talks. Of course, they consider Taiwan an internal matter; however “only by coordinating its US policy with its policy toward Taiwan can Beijing curb the separatist forces on the island”.

An Asian Perspective
The writers here are from Hong Kong University and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

The Hong Kong writers focus on China’s need for energy, pointing out that it is now the world’s second largest importer of oil. The fear here is that the search for energy by the US and China could result in war unless both parties are very careful and understand that the prosperity of each nation is dependent on “viable oil prices, secure sea-lanes and a stable international environment”.

From the perspective of at least one Singaporean intellectual, “the United States is doing more to destabilize China than any other power. And no one in Washington seems to be proposing, much less pursuing, a comprehensive new strategy for US-Chinese relations”. Yet, we have done more to promote the growth of the Chinese economy than any other country.

Our leaders seem to be unaware of the degree of change that has occurred in China. In the writer’s opinion, the governing class in China is the best in centuries, but we still see little old men as running the country. This new crop of leaders is relatively conservative when it comes to the social arena and fears moving too fast here as it may unleash forces that could wreak havoc with world order. Patience is necessary as is the acceptance that China is not ready today for democracy. A gradual movement is probably better for everyone.

These essays were, I thought, thoughtful and worthy of being read by those of us who believe that we must start developing a strategy for a multi-power world.