China Strikes Back over Currency and Textiles

Trade relations between the US and China continued on a downward spiral over the last couple of days. US Treasury Secretary John Snow said China needs more flexibility in its exchange rate system. Also US officials said China could be labeled a manipulative trading partner if it doesn’t let its currency appreciate, pointing to the “China price” of textiles. China’s Commerce Minister Bo Xilai replied that this was “not reasonable.” Both sides need the Chinese currency to rise in value, but they can’t agree on how. Perhaps, Mr. Bush should be reminded that the Chinese are communists.

The great policy hypocrisy of the Republican Party has been “Cuba bad, China good” when it comes to communism. Richard Nixon, who was as anti-communist as they come, went to China because it was power politics. He didn’t go to Cuba because Florida votes Republican. But if one is to be philosophically consistent, one must ask just how is the Chinese version of communism tolerable to a values-focused White House while Cuba’s is not.

A relic of the Cold War, the US still has an embargo on goods from Cuba. It is illegal for American businesses to deal with Castro’s gangsters. Moreover, Cuban exiles can send only a few dollars a month to family members. The White House justifies this by point out that the embargo is there to put pressure on the Havana communists to reform their system, and allow liberty to blossom on the island. More than four decades on, the world is still waiting for anything remotely resembling liberty to peek out of the Cuban soil.

At the same time, the Chinese communists jail people for political actions, send tanks to crush student demonstrators (there is still a weapons embargo on China due to the 1989 Tiananmen Square murders), and engage in the persecution of ethnic minorities (ask Richard Gere about Tibet). But the US gladly trades with China, and every month racks up a deficit in its trade figures of multi-billions of dollars. The situation cannot persist, and if the changes are not managed between Beijing and Washington, they will be very painful when they occur.

And so, in the footsteps on Jonathan Swift, the Kensington Review offers a modest proposal. The White House should embargo all trade with China, close the embassy in Beijing, and make it illegal for US citizens to visit China for any purpose until the Chinese currency floats on the open market. After all, a commie is a commie is a commie – right?


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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