Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Mr. Xi Goes to Washington

A most important event in Washington took place this week, and it was not related to the election nor to the payroll tax cut extension. Rather, it was about America's relationship with China. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (pronounced more or less "Shee Jeen-peeng") came to the White House, and as China's next leader for the best part of a decade, his visit may well set the tone for the future of Sino-American ties. Neither side can afford to let the relationship turn into a chilly rivalry like the US and USSR had.

Mr. Xi is an interesting character. Son of one of Mao's lieutenants, he has had a privileged life -- except when he hasn't. When dad fell out with the Chairman, the younger Xi found himself living in a cave (yes, a cave) in Yanchuan County, Yan'an, Shaanxi. The Guardian reported "When asked about this experience later by state television, Xi recalled it saying, 'It was emotional. It was a mood. And when the ideals of the Cultural Revolution could not be realised, it proved an illusion'." Does one sense pragmatism as a by-product? He left there when he was 22 and studied chemical engineering in Beijing. His career within the Communist Party has been ever upwards since. The fact that he is married to a very popular singer can only have helped.

And it may be that Mr. Xi knows more about America than America knows about him. As a county official back in 1985, he spent a few days in Muscatine, Iowa, studying farming. Yesterday, he returned to that town to reacquaint himself with his hosts. This had value then, and it has value now. "The governments here don't always understand that it's a long-term relationship that has to be developed," said John Harris, past president of the Midwest US-China Association. "The seeds you planted years ago sometimes pop up."

America and China are not going to get along without serious effort. The two places are just too different. China's economic standing and America's financial wobbles make the Chinese less interested in US lectures about free-market capitalism and human rights. Meanwhile, China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council that, frankly, all too often acts like a third-rate power in international politics. China clearly punches far below its weight, and this must change.

"We want to work with China to make sure that everybody is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system," said Mr. Obama during the visit to the Oval Office. Mr. Xi said "Frictions and differences are hardly avoidable in our economic and trade interactions. We must not allow frictions and differences to undermine the larger interests of our business co-operation."

And therein lies the biggest potential issue -- excessive focus on the commercial. In truth, the entire relationship is in need of constant care, not just the economic dimension. For example, the US and Chinese militaries hardly speak, but surely it is a vital security interest for the entire world that they communicate regularly. US Vice President Joe Biden summed it up, "We are not always going to see eye to eye. We are not always going to see things exactly the same, but we have very important economic and political concerns that warrant that we work together." It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of the human race depends on it. Who really wants another Cold War?

© Copyright 2011 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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