Chinese Language Blog

Now that Mr. Hu’s visit to Washington is complete, we can reflect on the issues surrounding his visit. While both sides of the pacific have come away with pros and cons following the meeting, most are pleased with the gains made diplomatically and believe this to be a stepping stone for stronger cooperation among economic, political and military arenas. Here are the main issues of President Hu’s visit:

Economic Development (经济发展):

The Chinese government has agreed to buy 200 airplanes from Boeing for $19 billion.  These and other deals reportedly include a railway contract for General Electric, a plan for Cummins to produce a hybrid bus, and a joint venture between Honeywell and a Chinese appliance maker. In doing so, the US and Chinese joint venture is expected to create over 250,000 American Jobs and more than a million Chinese ones. The White House announced that the two countries had made business deals that the president said would generate $45 billion in American exports.

Mr. Obama remarked during a meeting with Mr. Hu and American and Chinese business leaders that it was important for American companies to be allowed into China’s vast marketplace without demonizing the Chinese for unfairly “taking away American jobs”.  The relationship between the powers, he said, must be “much more complex” than one in which America functions simply as a market for Chinese products.

With growing inflationary concerns in China and continued global recessions, the outlook for a gradual raise and appreciation of the renminbi looks likely, and more importantly, mutually beneficial for both US and Chinese economic development. However, little was discussed about the “money issue”. Time will tell if Beijing’s leadership is ready to release their stranglehold on a export dependent economy.

The Military (军方 jūn fāng):

Confronting another source of tension among US-Chinese international affairs, Mr. Hu spoke of the need to have better relations between the two militaries. American officials worry about an increasingly defiant and independent Chinese military. The two sides pledged better communication between the Pentagon and the People’s Liberation Army, including a visit to Washington by China’s top general, Chen Bingde. While many believe that Hu Jintao has either lost control of the military or simply has been more concerned with economic issues, this is a welcome sign for US military leaders who want greater collaboration on control of the high seas in Southeast Asia and a Chinese crackdown on North Korea’s ballistic and nuclear missile arsenal.

In a joint statement issued by the two sides, the United States and China found some common ground on the nuclear threat from North Korea. The statement called for dialogue between North and South Korea, something the Obama administration had pushed for instead of the immediate resumption of multilateral negotiations with North Korea that China had backed. This was supposedly the first time that officials said, China “expressed concern” about the North’s recently disclosed uranium-enrichment plant.

Intellectual Property Rights (知识产权 or zhīshichǎnquán):

In a significant concession, China agreed to scrap a policy that favored Chinese technology companies for big government contracts, a senior administration official said. American companies complained that the policy, known as “indigenous innovation,” cut them out of one of China’s most lucrative markets. This essentially opens the doors for high-tech industries, once crowded out of China’s lucrative market.

Human Rights (人权 or rén quán):

In a sign of goodwill, the Obama administration was less critical (and less vocal) about human rights abuse issues in China. The Obama administration chose to deal with these issues outside of press, and downplayed the with the most recent example of Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobao, who faced imprisonment in the mainland. Mr. Hu still acknowledged that China had a ways to go on human rights issues saying that: “China still faces many challenges in economic and social development,” and “a lot still needs to be done in China in terms of human rights.” But he noted that China was willing to talk to the United States only within the confines of the “principle of noninterference in each other’s internal affairs.”

While the Obama administration was more focused on economic and military issues, some Tibetan and Falun Gong protesters did dog the ceremonies and even some press conferences. Aside from those hiccups, the human rights issue didn’t compromise the overwhelming concept of “harmony” between the two super powers.

Diplomacy (外交 or wài jiāo) and Future Relations:

In the long-term, president Hu said: “We should stay committed to promoting peace, stability and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and turn the Asia-Pacific into an important region where China and the United States work closely with each other on the basis of mutual respect.” He further added that the Pacific Rim is where Washington and Beijing had the greatest range of overlapping interests, calling for  closer coordination of American and Chinese activities there “crucial to the regional situation and our bilateral relations.”

This Tuesday, President Hu Jintao, in a remarkable display of statesmanship and cooperation, made the trip across the Pacific to Washington to meet with US leaders and lawmakers. His visit has been touted as an attempt to thaw icy relations between the US and China on a variety of human rights, economic, military and environmental issues.

While the visit was more for show–intent on establishing better diplomatic relations rather than ratifying an agreement, much like Nixon and Deng Xiao Ping’s foreign visits (click for previous posts), it was monumental in reaffirming cooperation and commitment to maintaining a “harmonious” relationship between the world’s two most powerful nations. By establishing closer relations or 关系 (guān xì) between the Chinese and US leadership, the two nations hope to lay a foundation on which higher-order politics and policies can be discussed in the years to come.

The Obama administration went all out on welcoming Mr. Hu to Washington, including a variety of parades, meetings, talks and even a fancy White House State Dinner Banquet. Check out all the pomp as Hu arrives:

Here is Hu Jintao’s Itinerary for his US visit:

• 18 Jan: Arrives in Washington, has private dinner with US President Barack Obama
• 19 Jan: Series of bilateral meetings followed by joint press conference; lunch with Vice-President Joe Biden; formal state dinner
• 20 Jan: Visits Capitol Hill to meet congressional leaders; departs for Chicago
• 21 Jan: Leaves Chicago for Beijing

Click here for a slideshow gallery of Mr. Hu’s visit to the White House.

Now that we’ve gone over Nixon’s visit to Beijing, lets fast forward through history to the late 1970s and focus upon Deng Xiao Ping’s or 邓小平 (dèng xiǎo píng) visit to the United States. In what has been dubbed “ping-pong diplomacy” (due to the back and forth nature of travel),  the lessons learned are simple: make a monumental gesture and establish relations or 关系 (guān xì) so that a foundation of trust emerges.

Following Nixon’s visit to Beijing, Deng Xiao Ping gained influence and ascended into the highest echelons of the CPC. Like Nixon, Deng held a a similar viewpoint of opening China to the rest of the world, due mostly through vast changes in the Chinese economic system. Deng, while probably one of the most important leaders and figures in modern Chinese politics and development, always seems to fly under the radar in the mainland. When I talk to regular citizens, it’s always about Mao and his great reforms, not the man who brought capitalism, market liberalization and consumerism to China. Sometimes I point out all the awesome new gadgets, technologies and goods Chinese people have today and say that Deng is responsible, but that is almost always greeted with a shrug (not like China is really about giving due credit where it is deserved…intellectual property rights?).

What Deng Did (改革开放)

Deng opened China to foreign investment, the global market, and limited private competition. He was generally credited with developing China into one of the fastest growing economies in the world for over thirty years and raising the standard of living of hundreds of millions of Chinese. His policy, known as the “Open Door Policy” or 改革开放 (gǎigé kāifàng) was predicated on this notion.

Deng, ever the pragmatist, saw Maoist era economic reforms as failures, and instead sought to open the Chinese economy to the rest of the world. The goals of Deng’s reforms were summed up by the Four Modernizations, those of agriculture, industry, science and technology and the military. So praise be to Deng Xiao Ping and his market revolution!

Returning the Favor

Deng, realizing that his Open Door Policy required improvement of diplomatic relations with foreign nations, set out to “visit old friends” from the Nixon administration, essentially returning the favor made by Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit. Following Deng’s ascension to power in 1977, the Carter Administration sent an envoy to Beijing again (including Mr. Brzezinski) to pick up where Nixon left off. It was only a matter of time before the Chinese leadership would take the trip across the Pacific and have their hospitality repaid.

Two years later, (then) Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping paid an official good-will visit to the United States at the invitation of President Carter from 29 January to 4 February 1979 for the purpose of enhancing mutual understanding between the two countries and promoting the development of their relations. Like Nixon’s visit to China, Deng’s visit to Washington was hugely symbolic as this was the first visit by a Chinese leader to the United States after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. By Jan 1, 1979 Beijing and Washington had officially established diplomatic relations, ending 30 years of recognition of Chiang Kai-shek’s government in Taipei.

US-Sino relations were born, setting the stage for future diplomatic interaction…not to mention President Hu Jintao’s upcoming visit January 19, 2011.