China Seeks to Perpetuate Advantages, Not Solve Problems

American Economic Alert ^ | April 20, 2006 | William R. Hawkins

[Paul Ross]

AmericanEconomicAlert.org | Fighting for American Companies, Fighting for American Jobs

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China Seeks to Perpetuate Advantages, Not Solve Problems

By William R. Hawkins
Thursday, April 20, 2006

As Chinese President Hu Jintao comes to Washington for a summit with President George W. Bush, all those watching the media reports and reading the official statements released by the two governments should remember the most famous words of the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, “Warfare is the Way (Tao) of deception.”

The techniques of Chinese propaganda developed during the Cold War have not been abandoned, only modernized. Over the last year, Beijing has put out a series of White Papers that exemplify the bravado of the communist regime when making statements than bear no resemblance to the facts. The common aim of all the papers is the attempt to assure the outside world that China’s surge in economic growth and global influence does not pose a threat to anyone, particularly to the United States. This has also been the aim of Beijing’s statements leading up to the summit.

But Beijing cannot be believed. For example, in its April 2005 paper, “China’s Progress in Human Rights,” it alleged, “Citizens' freedom of information, of speech and of the press is protected by law. At present, a three-level news briefing system consisting of the State Council's Information Office, and various departments of the State Council and provincial governments has basically been established. Sixty-two departments of the State Council have established the news briefing system, and appointed 75 spokespersons.” In other words, citizens are free to listen to official statements from the government, but nothing more. Meanwhile, Yahoo, Google and other information technology providers continue to block access to Internet sites that Beijing considers critical of its rule. Indeed, on April 12, Google CEO Eric Schmidt defended cooperation with China’s censorship rules as he announced the creation of a Beijing research center.

In its December 2005 paper ““China’s Peaceful Development Road,.” Beijing tried to pass off the ridiculous claim that “The Chinese nation has always been a peace-loving one. Chinese culture is a pacific culture.” China is one of the world’s oldest cultures, but also one of its most violent. It has repeatedly sought to build an empire dominating East and Central Asia. The 20th century, whose experiences have shaped Beijing’s leaders, was the most violent in history. The collapse of the last imperial dynasty in 1911 was followed by the rise and fall of regional warlords; a civil war between the Communists and the Nationalists that lasted until 1949; the invasion by Japan; Chinese intervention in the Korean and Vietnam wars; the death of tens of millions under Mao Zedong from the “Great Leap Forward” to the “Cultural Revolution”; and, the massacre of the student democracy movement in Tiananmen Square by the People’s Liberation Army under Deng Xiaoping. Beijing does not draw its heritage from Gandhi.

China’s use of terminology has little in common with how words are used in the United States. Consider the October 2005 paper “Building a Political Democracy in China” and how it defines its subject: “Democratic rule means that the CPC [Communist Party of China] sticks to the principle of ruling the country for the people and relying on the people in its rule, guarantees that the people are the masters of the state, upholds and improves the people's democratic dictatorship and the democratic centralism of the Party and the state.”  Beijing remains in the firm grip of a one-party dictatorship. China has moved away from communism as an economic model, but not as a political model.

The State Department’s annual country reports on human rights documented an increase in domestic oppression in China during 2005. Optimistic predictions over the last decade that increased Western trade and investment would promote liberalism in Beijing have been proven wrong. Trade has boomed, with the U.S. running a $202 billion deficit last year, but Beijing has used the economic gains to legitimize its dictatorship.

Chinese officials have continued their Orwellian Newspeak in the preliminary discussions that have set the stage for the summit. For example, when Zhou Wenzhong, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, gave an exclusive interview to the Xinhua news agency on April 14, he claimed, “Effective dialogues and coordination were conducted between China and the US on international and regional issues including the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula, the nuclear issue of Iran, the reconstruction of Iraq, and the United Nations affairs.” On each of these points of alleged coordination, Beijing has taken a position in opposition to the United States.

Beijing claims credit for hosting the Six-Party Talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program, but this has been done to protect the Stalinist North Korean regime from outside pressure. Its strategic aim is to keep North Korea intact, obtain foreign aid to subsidize this effort and allow Pyongyang to keep a small nuclear capability with which to blackmail the region. Beijing continues to shield Iran from sanctions at the UN despite increasingly inflammatory rhetoric from Tehran. As recently as April 14, Beijing reconfirmed its position that “Military and economic measures would be counter-productive in dealing with Iran's nuclear programme” and that diplomacy should be conducted at the IAEA level, rather than at the Security Council. And, of course, China opposed the U.S. at the UN over the use of force against Iraq and has opposed reforms of the UN Security Council, especially the addition of rivals India and Japan as permanent members of the Security Council.

At the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade talks last week, China did little more than restate past positions or promise future negotiations on issues such as steel and chemicals. The much heralded reopening of the Chinese market for American beef is, upon closer reading, still subject to further negotiations. There was nothing in China’s action plan to curb the rampant theft of intellectual property that has been promised time and again over the last decade without effect. Even if the government does start to incorporate legal software into its computers, the systems will be made in China. This may give Microsoft some more money, but it presents no real gain to the U.S. economy.

And the Chinese are notorious for not fulfilling promises to buy major American exports. At the JCCT, Beijing tried to show it was seeking to increase imports by announcing it might buy 80 Boeing 737 jetliners worth $5.2 billion at list prices. But this order was only to fulfill a previous commitment, and even this “new” order has yet to be finalized. It was primarily a public relations stunt and will not slow the widening trade gap. Whatever China buys, it will still sell five times as much to Americans.

Chinese diplomacy is meant to paralyze America, to keep U.S. leaders talking endlessly about issues, while Chinese leaders act day in and day out to advance their ambitions. It is Beijing’s actions, not its deceptive rhetoric, that must guide Washington in crafting a strategy to counter China’s geopolitical expansion, and offset the growth in economic capabilities that empowers it.

The Bush administration is strengthening ties with Japan and India, and deploying stronger air and naval forces in the Pacific. But it must also substantially reduce the trade deficit with China and curtail the flow of capital and technology to Chinese strategic industries. Too much of Beijing’s strength is being built with American money, an incredibly foolish thing to allow to continue. Economics and security cannot be treated separately if the long-term threat is to be contained.

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William R. Hawkins is Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the U.S. Business and Industry Council.

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[Paul Ross]

Truer words were seldom ever said:

Chinese diplomacy is meant to paralyze America, to keep U.S. leaders talking endlessly about issues, while Chinese leaders act day in and day out to advance their ambitions. It is Beijing’s actions, not its deceptive rhetoric, that must guide Washington in crafting a strategy to counter China’s geopolitical expansion, and offset the growth in economic capabilities that empowers it.

[Paul Ross]

Ping.

[glorgau]

Just yesterday I was sitting outside San Francisco Bay watching the empty container ships leave, and the fully loaded container ships arrive.

[snowsislander]

The Bush administration is strengthening ties with Japan and India, and deploying stronger air and naval forces in the Pacific. But it must also substantially reduce the trade deficit with China and curtail the flow of capital and technology to Chinese strategic industries. Too much of Beijing’s strength is being built with American money, an incredibly foolish thing to allow to continue. Economics and security cannot be treated separately if the long-term threat is to be contained.

Yes, we are acting unwisely by pouring so much money into the PRC.