Obama’s China kowtow

[Qarakhan]

Obama’s China kowtow

Why didn't the President of the free world raise sensitive human rights issues in Beijing? Because he couldn't afford to.
 


Could there be anything worse than being the leader of a nation in decline meeting the leaders of the nation that will soon displace your country as the world’s pre-eminent power? That must be the sense with which US President Barack Obama met with his counterpart Hu Jintao and other political leaders in China this week. It explains why, in large part, the leader of the free world chose to tread softly on key issues on which he should have taken a much firmer stand.

And time is running out for that stand to be made.

China now looks set to soon rival the US’s hegemony, certainly in Asia, but possibly much further afield too.

The pity is that while America has considerable life and potential left in it, President Obama seems to have given up. He came to China not only cap-in-hand but also on bended knee. Americans who have been concerned at seeing their President bow before Saudi royalty and the Japanese Emperor should be more concerned about seeing him kowtow to China’s Communist rulers.

Even before his visit signs were that Mr Obama might act deferentially towards China. He declined a meeting with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, in June to avoid offending Beijing ahead of the visit. While President Obama might have thought he was giving face (gei mianzi) to China’s government by deferring the meeting, it could be construed by many in China as a backdown -– something that would entail significant loss of face (diu mianzi) for America –- a sure sign of its weakness.

This visit made comparisons of him with President Kennedy finally ring hollow. No “ich bin ein Beijinger” speech was heard on this trip, not even when President Obama told university students in Shanghai that China should make the internet freer.

Indeed, President Obama lost more than just face by not raising a number of key issues, or not raising them loudly enough, during his visit. He squandered an opportunity to speak truth to power -– as John F. Kennedy and other presidents have done.

Too much left unsaid

What are some of the issues that the leader of the free world should have raised more forcefully but didn’t?

The Tibetan issue is one. The plight of the minority Turkic-speaking Uyghur people in the Western Xinjiang region is another. Both Tibet and Xinjiang with their very different and very religious ethnic groups sit uneasily in China which has had in place an unofficial policy to drown their cultures through migration of majority Han Chinese into their regions since the 1950s. Dissidents from both regions have termed this “cultural genocide”.

Tibetans and Uyghurs were not looking for President Obama to support independence in either region; most of their leaders are realists. But they probably expected him to speak more strongly in support of better treatment and more autonomy for them within China; to stand up for their rights as fellow human beings; to speak out against indiscriminate arrests, imprisonment and even the death penalty used against those who dare to question Beijing’s rule. But he didn’t.

To his credit Mr Obama did call on Beijing to resume talks with the Dalai Lama on the future of Tibet. However that request was almost hollow as China has little intention of holding serious talks with the Tibetan leader, having opted instead to bide time until he dies and Beijing can declare its own candidate as the next Dalai Lama.

As is standard practice in China in the lead-up to visits by heads of state or major events in the country, such as last year’s Olympics, high profile dissidents were placed under house arrest or had their movements severely curtailed. And many other dissidents, including religious leaders, primarily Christians and Muslims --  considered too “dangerous” for the State, languish in the Chinese gulag. What did President Obama say in their defence?

These issues are probably lower on the President’s agenda than they were during the primaries when he and chief rival and now Secretary of State Hilary Clinton were talking tough about China. Or maybe that was just campaign rhetoric; something conveniently forgotten now that America needs Chinese support on so many other issues from climate change to nuclear proliferation, and not least of all to shore up its own economy.

Is this a case of real world politics before the high minded principles necessary to win elections?

And then what of the issues not raised at all-– China’s one child family policy and forced abortions? These are probably very low on the list of US priorities in relation to China. But they are significant matters in a country where a couple can lose its freedoms and rights to social services if they have a second or third child. Is not the right to choose how many children you want important enough for the leader of the free world to raise? What about when the punishment for making that choice infringes the basic human rights of the parents and families concerned?

It’s ironic that Mr Obama was visiting China on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Most importantly it gave us an opportunity to contrast Mr Obama’s leadership with the leaders of the free world at that time –- Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Had they chosen to bow to dictators, Communism would still be reigning in Eastern Europe and Russia.

Not quite the silk road

While the US might be in the economic doldrums at present, it still commands political and moral leadership because of the merits of the system that made it great. It has and should stand on its moral authority. But time is running out. Tinpot despots in Africa are now looking to the Chinese system as a viable alternative. If they want to hold on to power while simultaneously achieving economic success, they must be thinking, why not take the Chinese Road. The stronger China’s economic rise makes it, the harder it will be for the West to dissuade other countries from the route of political repression.

The West has a small window of opportunity to challenge the China Road. But it is a window that is fast closing as China’s economic power grows. At stake are the rights of billions of people in Asia and Africa. Dissuading others from the China Option requires strong leadership now.

It’s also necessary if America is going to regain face in China.

Constance Kong is the pen name of a Shanghai-based business consultant.


Source:

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/obamas_china_kowtow/