Dear President Obama,
Welcome to U.S.-China relations! You didn't even mention China in your inaugural address, but the Chinese censors still took it personally. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's remarks in his confirmation hearing about currency manipulation have got everyone in a tizzy. We're off to a rollicking start!
People in China are watching closely -- and starting to debate -- whether your administration's pursuit of America's economic interests will help or hurt their own.
China is obviously not a democracy. Even so, if you really want to take U.S.-China relations to a new strategic level that rises above the day-to-day issues, you need to find new ways to engage the Chinese people themselves -- not just their government.
Normalization of U.S.-China relations in 1979, combined with economic reforms and opening, transformed the Chinese people's lives. Chinese of our generation understand this. But their children take their opportunities and comforts for granted. They don't necessarily see the U.S. as a symbol of hope or a target of aspirations the way their parents did.
It is this young generation born after 1980 who were most vocal on the Chinese Internet last year, lashing out against Western critics and Western media coverage of their government's crackdown in Tibet. In response to international pressure, the Chinese government negotiated with the Dalai Lama, but it didn't feel the need to concede anything meaningful. In maintaining a hard line, the Chinese leadership could feel doubly secure in the fact that, not only did they have the strength of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police on their side; China's majority Han-Chinese public had no sympathy for the idea of Tibetan autonomy.
Chinese leaders listen selectively to public opinion, and sometimes those opinions actually give them an extra excuse to tell the U.S. where to shove it. While Americans tend to think of the Internet as the medium that will inevitably free the Chinese people of authoritarian rule, Chinese leaders have -- for many years now -- been going there for proof that the public wants them to be tougher with the U.S. Back in 2001 a U.S. spyplane made an emergency landing on Hainan island after a collision with a Chinese fighter jet which crashed into the sea. If people in the Chinese Internet chatrooms had gotten their way, the U.S. crew would be in a Chinese jail today. In a recent interview with The Atlantic's James Fallows, the President of the China Investment Corporation Gao Xiqing pointed out that his P.R. department is inundated with public comments calling for him to sell U.S. dollar assets.
The point is that while these people are not citizens of a democracy, they are by no means an undifferentiated mass of brainwashed drones. Despite often crude censorship of the Internet and state-run media, despite manipulation, intimidation of dissidents and political astro-turfing of the blogosphere by paid commentators, there is no unity of thought in China today. Civic minded citizens manage to hold wide-ranging debates on the Chinese Internet, in living rooms, dormitories, office break rooms, and classrooms about many public issues. Reading the Chinese blogs I've found all kinds of views about you and your new administration. Many are inspired by your personal story and the idea of truly equal opportunity that you represent. Others hope that you will be more forthright and principled on human rights issues than the Bush administration was. Others are very concerned that you will be protectionist in order to help the American people in the short run, and that this will hurt the Chinese people economically. Others lament cynically that no matter what happens, the rich and powerful in both countries will be the relationship's main beneficiaries.
The Chinese government will have greater incentive to work with you on creative solutions to complex problems if your diplomats can do a better job of reassuring ordinary Chinese that you do actually care whether U.S.-China policy outcomes will benefit them -- not just China's commercial and political elites. Right now, frankly, they're not convinced. One-way monologues through the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia don't have much street cred with China's Internet generation, to be honest. It's time to upgrade your public diplomacy strategy for the 21st Century.
Just as you have used new technology to engage with the American electorate, your China policy can be greatly strengthened if you conduct a real conversation with the Chinese people. Listen as much as you talk; provide a much-needed platform for open discussion. The U.S. embassy in Beijing should build a Chinese-language website modeled after change.gov, focused not just on U.S.-China relations, but on the range of concerns and interests - from environment, to food safety, to factory safety standards, to education and real estate law -- shared by ordinary Chinese and Americans. Some linguistically talented State Department employees should start blogging in Chinese. Open up the comments sections, see how the Chinese blogosphere responds, then respond to them in turn. Translate some of the Chinese conversation into English for Americans to read and react, then translate it back. Sure there will be censorship problems on the Chinese side, but if enough Chinese find the conversation important and relevant to their lives, the censors ultimately won't be able to stop it. Nor should they want to if they're wise - because the resulting conversation would help both governments build a more stable and rational relationship that would truly benefit the people of both countries.
The Bush administration was popular in official Chinese circles because they engaged with the Chinese recognizing co-dependencies. The Obama administration likely understands the same principle and will continue that engagement.
The Chinese record of 30 years of uninterrupted growth averaging between 8% and 10% a year; the fact that between 200 and 400 million Chinese have been raised out of poverty; the end of famines that killed tens of millions of Chinese are a record that might give China the foundation to suggest its economic and social models may have a lot to teach other countries. The Chinese criticize those who criticize China. They do not offer unsolicited advice.
The notion of an American President addressing the Chinese population or offering unsolicited advice on how the Chinese leadership should conduct its affairs is hubris. The current global economic meltdown triggered by excesses in the American economic model suggests that the United States, and Europe, would do well to put their own house in order before extolling the virtues of their economic, political and social systems.
And watch out for them 1000 year old eggs - the lead painted toys are better for your health.
--
Steer away from the old urge of demonizing other countries.
Listen and try to understand each other's interest.
Think win-win. That's the only way to pull out of this crises.
If our technologically advanced nation has such problems tabulating a national vote, just imagine how
a less advanced nation of 1.3 billion would be able to handle it.
I truly believe that our new president represents the educated leadership, but his speech did not mention Chinese people ( he mentioned Muslim, but not Buddhism, most Chinese people are), I was somehow surprised by the lacking of thoughtfulness towards 1.4 billion's population. I admire our president so much, I have so much faith in him, but that was a first disappointment ever since I got to know him through all his appearances and speeches, hope soon that he can see that, and makes quick changes. I like what Mr. Tim Geithner's comments about Chinese currency policy, Chinese gov needs to play fair game if they are really up to the major players on world stages, be honest, show some dignity when compete. the younger generations to come need to see some good behavior before it is too late. US involvement is very important in the process.
Why is it that so many "white" people tell other "white" people, what's good for China. LOL Not very progressive, is it. Sounds to me like a retread of Colonial imperialism.
Here is an idea, stop bashing China. That is right. Just stop bashing China.
How to do that?
Here is step 1. When someone sends you an email or stroy that paints China in a bad light, don't jump on that bandwagon. Question it.
Take care, and Happy New year of the Ox!
The endless stories of web censorship in China are often overstated. I've been there 15 times, and have always been able to read news from my favorite American sources online (with no government cartoon character popping up to tell me that I'm being watched), with one exception. In fact, before I went for the first time, I saw an article on a major human rights website that criticized China for banning a lot of western news sites. I went to a cybercafe at a government-owned bookstore and proceeded to pull up every website that was supposedly banned. My only gripe was that youtube WAS blocked during the Tibet rioting last year (when I was there in March).
dialogue is good. its a two way street. the information and benefits flow both ways. yes, they can learn from us. our job is to learn from them. i don't think our gov't would like a lot of what we might learn. at least their gov't admits as much.
But MacKinnon's article does not make this distinction and would involve the U.S. embassy in China participating in the domestic affairs of China on a mass scale, particularly in areas such as" education and real estate law", as well as others. The folly of the proposal would be readily apparent if China's embassy in Washington, D. C., were to follow MacKinnon's recommendation.