Watch also a discussion hosted by the Asia Society’s Orville Schell with Mike Chinoy, Richard Bernstein and Bruce Dunning about their experiences reporting from China in the early days after China allowed foreign correspondents to work from the country.

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Post tags: documentaries, foreign correspondents, PRC history, Richard Nixon, U.S. relations
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Post tags: 2011, Ai Weiwei, ccp 90 years, high-speed rail crash, jasmine revolution, U.S. relations, Wukan, year in review
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Premier Wen Jiabao was by turns “grouchy” and constructive as he responded to the concerns aired by almost all of the leaders attending the East Asia Summit, said one of the administration officials, who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One as Mr. Obama returned from an eight-day diplomatic swing around the Pacific Rim.

The meeting, at the end of the summit, capped a week during which Mr. Obama moved quickly, and on several fronts, to restore the influence of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region after years of preoccupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. He announced that 2,500 Marines would be stationed in Australia; opened the door to restored ties with Myanmar, a Chinese ally; and gained support for a regional free-trade bloc that so far omits Beijing.

The announcements appeared to startle Chinese leaders, who issued a series of warnings that claimed the United States was seeking to destabilize the region.

Xinhua, meanwhile, has published an opinion piece arguing that the Philippines, one country with whom China is embroiled in a territorial dispute over portions of the South China Sea, is not important enough for the U.S. to risk its relationship with China over:

As to some of the foul-mouthed Philippine officials, their performance has thus far been taken as an echo posture to Washington’s “Return to Asia” strategy.

But people cannot help but wonder how much the South China Sea issue virtually means to the U.S., and what is the true significance of the Philippines’ high-pitched claims over the sea.

First, it is an unwise move if it insists on playing a meddling hand in the South China Sea disputes. Some analysts take it risky that Washington would stake its prestige on a remote and strategically third-rate ally when it provokes a clash with a neighboring far stronger nation, whom the U.S. has been increasingly counting on to recover its dislocated economy, combat terrorism and shared challenges, and deal with a host of global problems.

A couple of months ago, Prof. Lyle Goldstein painted a doleful picture in the Foreign Policy magazine. He said if U.S. leaders heed his advice, they should shed most commitments in Southeast Asia, which he portrays as a region of trivial importance situated adjacent to an increasingly powerful China. He maintained that “Southeast Asia matters not a whit in the global balance of power.”

For more on the U.S. role in the South China Sea dispute, see previous CDT posts including, “What to Make of US Military Presence in the Asia Pacific” and “Tensions Rising on the South China Sea.”

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Post tags: diplomacy, philippines, South China Sea, U.S. relations
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The Chinese government claims that the political leadership of the Communist Party is the basis of China’s economic miracle, but it often acts as though competition with the United States will be played out on the economic field alone. And in America, politicians regularly attribute progress, but never failure, to their own leadership.

Both governments must understand that political leadership, rather than throwing money at problems, will determine who wins the race for global supremacy.

Many people wrongly believe that China can improve its foreign relations only by significantly increasing economic aid. But it’s hard to buy affection; such “friendship” does not stand the test of difficult times.

How, then, can China win people’s hearts across the world? According to ancient Chinese philosophers, it must start at home. Humane authority begins by creating a desirable model at home that inspires people abroad.

This means China must shift its priorities away from economic development to establishing a harmonious society free of today’s huge gaps between rich and poor. It needs to replace money worship with traditional morality and weed out political corruption in favor of social justice and fairness.

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Post tags: China's rise, chinese philosophy, economic development, foreign policy, U.S. relations
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Obama, under pressure to create jobs at home and eager to highlight U.S. influence abroad, said an undervalued Chinese yuan was putting U.S. businesses at a disadvantage and a change in the currency policy would help the global economy.

“What I have said since I first came into office and what we’ve exhibited in terms of our interactions with the Chinese is we want you to play by the rules. And currency is probably a good example,” Obama said at a forum of executives on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

“For an economy like the United States — where our biggest competitive advantage is our knowledge, our innovation, our patents, our copyrights — for us not to get the kind of protection we need in a large marketplace like China is not acceptable.”

Meanwhile, China has not committed to a plan for an Asia-Pacific free trade zone, which is being pushed by the U.S. at the APEC meetings. From the Washington Post:

President Barack Obama, flanked by leaders of eight other nations involved in negotiations on setting up the trading bloc, said he was optimistic the trade pact dubbed the Trans-Pacific Partnership could draft a legal framework by next year.

“It is an ambitious goal, but we are optimistic that we can get it done,” he said on the summit’s sidelines.

The so-called TPP is billed as a building block for eventually forging a free trade zone that encompasses all of Asia and the Pacific. It now includes only four smaller economies — Chile, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore — but the U.S., Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Peru are negotiating to join, and Japan said it hopes to as well.

[...] China, which some economists say is on course to overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy this decade, has appeared unenthusiastic about the Pacific trade pact, describing the plan as “overly ambitious.” Its reluctance to endorse the proposal likely reflects wariness about being drawn into what has become a U.S.-led initiative that encroaches on its own sphere of influence in Asia.

Also on the agenda at APEC, President Obama is seeking China’s support on pressuring Iran over its nuclear program.

Watch an AP video report on Obama’s comments at today’s meetings:

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Post tags: apec, asia china's rise, Iran, U.S trade, U.S. relations
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Colleges, eager to bolster their diversity and expand their international appeal, have rushed to recruit in China, where fierce competition for seats at Chinese universities and an aggressive admissions-agent industry feed a frenzy to land spots on American campuses. College officials and consultants say they are seeing widespread fabrication on applications, whether that means a personal essay written by an agent or an English proficiency score that doesn’t jibe with a student’s speaking ability. American colleges, new to the Chinese market, struggle to distinguish between good applicants and those who are too good to be true.

Once in the classroom, students with limited English labor to keep up with discussions. And though they’re excelling, struggling and failing at the same rate as their American counterparts, some professors say they have had to alter how they teach.

Colleges have been slow to adjust to the challenges they’ve encountered, but are beginning to try new strategies, both to better acclimate students and to deal with the application problems. The onus is on them, says Jiang Xueqin, deputy principal of Peking University High School, one of Beijing’s top schools, and director of its international division. “Are American universities unhappy? Because Chinese students and parents aren’t.”

“Nothing will change,” Mr. Jiang says, “unless American colleges make it clear to students and parents that it has to.”

Jiang Xueqin wrote a post in the Diplomat in response to the New York Times article, in which he argues that the problems U.S. universities have integrating the Chinese students are due to a clash of civilizations. He calls the rising numbers of Chinese students in the U.S, “a ticking time bomb that will create an international crisis when it goes off”:

Ever since 2004, when the U.S. government relaxed visa requirements for Chinese students and American universities began recruiting Chinese undergraduates, Chinese not adapting well to American academic life has been a growing problem. And now, because the New York Times has pronounced it so, it’s officially a problem.

But what exactly is the problem?

The obvious answer is the language barrier, which results in Chinese students keeping silent in the classroom, and ostracizing themselves from campus life. Then, of course, there’s the cheating and plagiarizing, as well as the psychological and behavioral issues that arise from the culture shock.

The good news is that Chinese parents are themselves concerned, and Chinese students who are planning to study abroad are, as early as elementary school, taking weekend English classes, watching “Gossip Girl,” and attending summer camps in the United States. Chinese applicants to U.S. colleges and universities are increasing in terms of both quantity and quality.

But here’s the bad news: Cross-cultural tensions on the American campus may still increase because the problem isn’t Chinese students who can’t speak English – it’s fundamentally a clash of civilizations. Chinese and Americans have fundamentally different values, norms, and worldviews, and Chinese students on U.S. campuses is merely the first front of the inevitable struggle between the hegemon and its challenger.

See also this previous CDT post on the process by which Chinese students apply and are accepted to U.S. universities.

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Post tags: overseas Chinese students, study abroad, U.S. relations, U.S. universities
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In Central Asia, the norm is for the government to receive roughly one-third of the profit oil and for the oil company to receive the remainder. Yet in Afghanistan — one of the riskiest countries in Central Asia, with incomplete geological data and the near absence of key infrastructure — the task force pushed for a profit split that would give the Afghan government the majority of the profit oil. This was in addition to royalties and several other taxes included in the agreement, all of which are entirely atypical in Central Asia.

We provided the task force with several examples of contract terms in other Central Asian countries and repeatedly asked the task force to identify which countries served as the model for the unattractive commercial terms offered for the Amu Darya tender. The task force refused to answer our question, and the terms remained unchanged, resulting in virtually no interest in the tender among serious Western oil companies. The terms did not deter CNPC, however, which is willing to make investments in Central Asia that are not strictly profitable for the purpose of capturing resources and extending China’s political influence.

The other problem was the process, under which the company that bid the highest royalty would be designated the winner of the tender so long as it met the basic technical requirements for executing the project. It was clear from the beginning that CNPC would bid the highest royalty (especially given that the terms were unattractive to Western companies). Indeed, according to industry experts we consulted, it is common knowledge that CNPC typically bids $5 to $7 per barrel more than other interested bidders in oil tenders in which it participates. So this selection process all but guaranteed that China would win the tender.

The win in Afghanistan underscores the momentum of the Chinese model of development, known as the Beijing Consensus, which has allowed China to use soft power to foster influence abroad and feed its resource-hungry economy. From Reuters:

Chinese firms already have a stake in nearly 40 projects in Afghanistan, with contracts worth nearly $500 million at the end of June, according to Wu Gangchen, the commercial counselor at the Chinese Embassy.

“Reconstruction means markets, reconstruction means opportunity,” Wu was quoted as saying in a recent interview with Beijing-based newspaper the International Business Daily.

He urged Chinese investors to keep their eyes open for possible deals in Afghanistan, particularly in the sectors of “energy, infrastructure, trade, service and processing.”

Despite the threat a large Chinese coal project poses to an ancient Afghan Buddhist site, a September China Daily report claims such investments can show the way to peace and prosperity in Afghanistan:

According to the governor of Logar, Afegalla Loden, about 300 former members of the Taliban have recently turned their guns into the province. Many of them have obtained important posts in the government, while about 70 are taking part in the mine project.

“They (former Taliban members) now have houses and jobs and therefore tend to be doing good deeds.”

Moreover, the Afghan Power Human Resources Service Company is working with the Metallurgical Corporation of China to run a training program for the Afghans who will work on the project. Those who go through the training will receive a month of classes in technology, management, accounting, safe production and the Chinese language. They will then spend two months getting hands-on experience at their jobs.

…

The commercial counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan, Wu Gangchen, said he has also observed that “The Afghan people show a great eagerness for development and for cooperation with their neighbor, China, which has no history of being in conflict with Afghanistan.”

The Globe and Mail also recently highlighted the parallels between China’s investments in Afghanistan and similar ventures in Iraq, while Bloomberg noted that China employed the same strategy that has opened the door to Africa’s wealth of natural resources.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Afghanistan, Beijing Consensus, CNPC, oil, oil diplomacy, soft power, U.S. relations
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The Chinese objections came as the Senate began debate on the bill, which would require the Treasury Department to determine whether China is manipulating its currency and then order the Commerce Department to impose tariffs on certain Chinese goods.

Ma Zhaoxu, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the bill “seriously violates rules of the World Trade Organization and obstructs China-U.S. trade ties.” The statement, reported by Xinhua, China’s official news agency, urged senators to “rationally understand Sino-U.S. trade cooperation, which is mutually beneficial in nature, and stop pressuring China through domestic lawmaking.”

The statement did not specify what steps, if any, China might take if the legislation were to pass. But Mr. Ma said the bill would “further escalate the exchange rate issue by adopting protectionist measures with an excuse of ‘currency imbalance.’ ”

See also: “China Currency Bill Runs Into Republican Opposition in Congress” from Business Week and “U.S. currency exchange rate reform bill does good to no one” from Xinhua. Read more about the battle over China’s currency evaluation via CDT.

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Post tags: U.S. Congress, U.S. economy, U.S. relations, Yuan rate
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This Monday, “China Economic Weekly,” published by the ruling Communist Party, took its turn running a star-struck story about Mr. Locke’s common touch. It was only the latest in a spate of positive press reports and Internet comments since Washington’s man in Beijing took up his post last month.

This time, the reporter recounted how Locke and his family waited in line for an hour, just like any ordinary person, for a seat on the cable car carrying tourists down from the Great Wall.

The Chinese public’s fascination with this sort of thing, says social commentator Yao Bo, derives from the fact that “the ambassador looks Chinese, but his behavior is completely un-Chinese.”

Yet not everyone in China is starstruck. Some official media outlets have been less generous in their descriptions of Locke and his motives in China. From an editorial in the Global Times:

The attention Gary Locke has received as the new US ambassador to China is far more than his role deserves. Besides his attitude toward many aspects of the bilateral relationship, his personal life has aroused fierce discussion among the Chinese public. He flew economy class, carries a backpack and buys coffee with discount vouchers. His normal image has won him praise from some Chinese media.

It is reminiscent of the discussion over US Vice President Joe Biden dining in a cheap restaurant in Beijing. Some Chinese media’s expectations of their officials shine through in these comments.

It would not be bad if these actions were covered by the media, whilst keeping a level head. It loses value when Locke’s every move is packaged by the media as being part of the class of US officials. Some journalists like to romanticize what they see out of a lack of knowledge and may hold Locke up as a mirror for Chinese officials.

Locke is not supposed to have a large number of guards as an ambassador to China. And it costs much more in security for Biden to eat a bowl of noodles in a street restaurant than for him to dine at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

No Chinese ambassadors to other countries would have many attendants and, globally speaking, all visitors of Biden’s level may enjoy the opportunity to enter smaller restaurants.

It is bizarre and twisted to regard these acts as evidence of cleanness in US politics.

And another editorial in Guangming Daily, in Chinese, was even harsher, as the Wall Street Journal blog reports:

“Once we clearly understand the way this world is structured, we won’t be seduced by Gary Locke’s façade,” the Communist Party newspaper Guangming Daily said in an editorial last Friday titled “A Warning on the American Neo-Colonialism Gary Locke Brings” about the first Chinese-American to be named the U.S. envoy to China (in Chinese). “His Chinese-American identity means that he’s capable of attracting the attention and public support of Chinese people around the world, capable of developing an affinity with regular people in China. Who’s to say that isn’t the intention of the U.S., to use a Chinese to control the Chinese and incite political chaos in China?”

The response so far among Chinese Internet users: Bring it on.

“To be honest, I’m looking forward to being colonized,” a user of China’s popular Sina Weibo microblogging service writing under the name Yan Lu’antong commented Tuesday. “We welcome this kind of ‘neo-colonialism’ with open arms!!!” added another user, Liu Xiaodong.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: diplomacy, Gary Locke, U.S. relations
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SPIEGEL: How far will China go in terms of defending its interests? In the dispute over the sovereignty of the South China Sea, the tone can at times be quite sharp.

Fu Ying: We, too, are wondering why there is such strong rhetoric, since the countries involved are already engaged in dialogues on the basis of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002. But this is a dispute of words, and what matters is that the shipping traffic in the South China Sea remains peaceful and there is no war or conflict going on.

[...]

SPIEGEL: The West perceives a lack of transparency and rule of law in the Chinese model.

Fu Ying: I think at the moment it is the Western governments that are having problems. We are observing what is going on in the West. We try to understand why so many governments made so many mistakes. Why do political parties make commitments they cannot fulfill? Why do they spend so much more than they have? Has the West been stagnating since the end of the Cold War? Or has it just become conceited?

SPIEGEL: Democracies are very complicated, and compared to tightly ruled systems, they are at a disadvantage. Do you feel superior?

Fu Ying: Superiority is the not the word we use. The Chinese are very modest. We respect your success and we learn from you. You are in the post-industrialized era. Many of the problems you encounter might occur in China later. So we want to see how you address those problems, and if we can learn from you.

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Post tags: foreing policy, Fu Ying, U.S. relations
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