Chinese 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.”