Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States the past week was a resounding success for his country.
Five years ago Hu arrived in the U.S. hoping for recognition by then-President George W. Bush as a full “state visit,” but Bush downgraded it to an “official visit.” There were no such disparagements this time around as Hu was given full honors, attending a gala at the White House and receiving a 21-gun salute. Hu nimbly and succinctly answered questions from Western reporters. The view in China is that the burgeoning nation is finally being received on equal footing by the world’s superpower.
It was a resounding failure for the U.S.
Continuing to develop open diplomatic ties with China is of great importance to continued prosperity for the U.S. There is no question that issue should be held in greater significance for the U.S. than the question of China; how will they continue to develop economically, socially and militarily? However, simply because the China question is an important one does not mean the U.S. should be diplomatically appeasing in any way.
China depends on the U.S. just as much, if not more so, than the U.S. depends on China for continued growth. The largest takeaway from Hu’s visit is what was left unsaid.
First, China’s poor human rights record: Censorship, capital punishment without due process of law, and detaining protesters are all examples of China’s human rights history and the country’s refusal to reform. At a news conference during his stay, Hu was asked to “defend his country’s treatment of its people.” Hu initially failed to respond, saying later the question had not been translated. The White House says it was. When asked a second time, Hu said “a lot still needs to be done in China in terms of human rights,” citing that China is continuing to develop and working through the challenges of growth.
This is the country’s standard line of defense. It has been used frequently with little movement shown in the positive direction. At what point does enough become enough? When does the U.S. use some of its leverage to try and force China to accept standard freedoms? It isn’t even about America doing something noble, it’s about America simply owning up to the fact that China has some serious internal issues that, whether or not the U.S. has any right or justification in trying to fix, at the very least should be sharply condemned. Apart from the question posed at the press conference, China’s human rights record largely went untouched.
Second, from an economic standpoint, is China’s manipulation of its currency, the yuan. While it isn’t clear yet whether President Obama spoke with President Hu about China’s currency situation, currency markets will provide evidence in the future, not only if President Obama brought it up, but more importantly, if Hu listened.
One of the commonly cited reasons for the enormous U.S. trade deficit is the overvaluation of the dollar against other currencies, the yuan included. What this means is that it is much cheaper for foreign countries, such as China, to produce goods that are then bought not only in their own countries, but in the U.S. as well. This leads to failures in American manufacturing because the U.S. cannot compete with the cheap costs from overseas, leading to drops in exports and increases in imports. It is the equivalent of the Chinese government imposing tariffs on U.S. goods and subsidies on their own. Is this the type of economic relationship the U.S. really wants to pursue with the growing power of China? In these tumultuous economic times, it simply cannot be.
It also might be pertinent to note that this question, one of enormous ramifications for everyday Americans, was largely ignored by the media during President Hu’s stay.
There are, and were, many other questions of serious importance that remain with regards to China — tensions in the diplomatic triangle of the U.S., Taiwan, and China, difficulties posed by the Chinese government in allowing U.S. commercial interests access to the country, copyright laws — the list goes on and on. We may not know for some time, if ever, which of these questions were addressed and hammered out behind closed doors between President Obama and President Hu. Time may provide forms of evidence in clear examples of movement in the positive direction on economic and human rights fronts. But the initial take home from Hu’s visit to the U.S. was one of little hope.
Hu was granted the status of an official state visit. He wined and dined with President Obama. He was, in short, given everything he could have possibly asked for. And the Chinese, at the very least the government-controlled People’s Daily, were ecstatic at the results. Namely, that China is finally being treated as an equal by the world’s superpower.
The question then has to be: Are they truly deserving?
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