We were told that President Obama was going to get real results and take a tougher position toward China with President Hu’s visit. And to demonstrate his effectiveness, the White House has trotted out “accomplishments.” What exactly are the results?
Well…nothing really. There’s a small $45 billion trade agreement that was announced. But this is really nothing new. It’s largely an amalgamation of agreements that had already been inked, including Boeing’s $19 billion airplane deal. (Oh, and perhaps you didn’t hear–that deal is partly financed courtesy of us taxpayers through the Export-Import Bank.) Microsoft’s CEO said the software portion of that trade agreement was tiny in comparison to the amount of money the company loses thanks to pirated software in China, so it really amounts to nothing. And, of course, the entire deal is a small drop in the bucket compared to the annual trade deficit.
President Obama supposedly pressed him on human rights, but not really so hard as promised. And what were the results? At the joint “press conference,” as the Washington Post points out, Obama actually bailed Hu out from a tough question about human rights!
Presidents can’t fix everything. They have to play the cards they were dealt. America has a weak hand in some respects–the debt, a sputtering economy, etc. But China has problems, too. Reports claim that their economy grew at more than 10% last year, but there are plenty of serious people who believe that China represents the “greatest bubble in history.” Remember during the cold war how all those numbers showed the Soviet economy was always said to be growing so quickly?
So the cards your dealt matter a lot. But a president should at least play them well. Charm, a nice smile, and a nice personality will win you precious few games at the poker table. And more importantly, on a strategic level, why not play to our strengths, and not our weaknesses? Why not push an initiative to open up the Chinese media, to expose more people in that country to classical liberal and democratic ideals? Why not let the Chinese President get uncomfortable answering serious questions about human rights? Ronald Reagan famously said to the Soviets, “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!” And during a summit meeting with Gorbachev, he began one session by saying, “Let me tell you we people in my country despise your system…”
How about an open call for radical reform in China? They are not likely to listen, but it will encourage dissidents and opposition groups, and it will remind the world of the superiority of western ideas.
During President Hu’s visit, First Lady Michelle Obama encouraged American school children to study Chinese. Maybe for good reason. At this rate, with America’s rapid retreat from world leadership in the face of China’s rise, our kids may need it not just to succeed in global business, but in everyday life.