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SPEAKING FREELY
US diplomacy needs Chinese
characteristics
By Earl
Carr
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have their
say. Please click here if you
are interested in contributing.
The United States' plays an integral role in
China's foreign policy, however, China has, and will
continue to assert its independence through other
diplomatic channels. China's effective diplomatic
strategy has allowed it to consolidate its influence in
Asia and has improved its position globally.
Therefore, the US must implement a public
diplomacy strategy aimed at preserving core
geo-strategic and national interests in Asia.
Beijing's new diplomatic strategy is centered on
a more proactive and multilateral approach in achieving
its objectives. Historically, Chinese leaders like Mao
Zedong and Deng Xiaoping rarely ventured abroad. Today,
by contrast, China's approach to bilateral relations and
multilateral organizations reflects a new flexibility
and sophistication.
Throughout the 1990s China
doubled its foreign direct investment to the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), endorsed
a bilateral swap agreement under the Chiang Mai
Initiative and took important measures to create a
China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement. If established, this
would be the largest free-trade agreement in the world.
In November of 2003, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited
the US, Canada, Mexico and Ethiopia. Chinese President
Hu Jintao recently wrapped up a four-nation official
visit to France, Egypt, Gabon and Algeria. Marking the
40th anniversary of Sino-French relations on January 27,
French President Jacques Chirac for the first time spoke
out in favor of lifting an arm sales embargo against
China - imposed after Beijing's 1989 bloody crackdown on
student protestors in Tiananmen Square.
Economy drives China's foreign
policy
China's insatiable quest for new resources
to fuel its booming economy prompted President Hu's
visit to Gabon and Algeria to improve diplomatic ties.
What explains China's foreign policy objectives? The
answer to this is best captured by the (Bill)
Clinton-(Al) Gore 1992 US presidential campaign slogan,
"It's the economy, stupid."
Beijing recognizes
the importance of improving China's image abroad and the
implications of this improvement for strengthening the
domestic economy. China's new leaders have staked their
legitimacy on attracting higher levels of foreign direct
investment and achieving overall economic growth. To do
this, China must continue to improve its relations with
the US and other nations.
China's diplomatic
engagement has important implications for the US. As a
growing economic and military power, China has
positioned itself better in Asia than the United States.
China now acts as a vital mediator between the US and
North Korea in efforts to resolve the nuclear crisis on
the Korean peninsula. In addition, China's relations
with South Korea are better than they are with the US.
Furthermore, ASEAN now looks to China as an important
economic lifeline.
China has become very
effective in using its soft power to consolidate its
influence in Asia and to improve its image globally. The
US, on the other hand, has seen anti-Americanism
exploding, and the perception in Asia and other parts of
the world is that the administration of President George
W Bush is pursuing the "war on terror" to the exclusion
of everything else.
US needs two-stage
strategy to improve Asia ties
The US needs to
embark on a two-stage public diplomacy strategy aimed at
using soft power to strengthen relations with countries
in Asia.
First, the Independent Task Force at
the Council on Foreign Relations has proposed a
public/private partnership dedicated to public
diplomacy. The primary objective in establishing a
public/private partnership would be to organize the
private sector in order to serve as a corporation for
public diplomacy.
In the past, one of the major
flaws in US public diplomacy has been to arbitrarily
allocate resources to one or several specific countries
in order to bring about a desired result. Establishing a
public/private partnership seeks to mobilize the private
sector, thereby creating a more systemic process by
which to administer US public diplomacy initiatives.
One of the primary benefits of a public/private
partnership would be to provide a valuable economic
lifeline to assist with the US State Departments'
implementation of various programs.
US spends
7 cents on diplomacy for each US$1 on military
Public diplomacy initiatives sponsored by the US
government are severely under-funded. The Council on
Foreign Relations Task Force Report states that, "for
every dollar spent on the military, the US spends seven
cents on diplomacy."
The private sector would
play an important role in funding various projects, such
as producing content and helping distribute US public
diplomacy programs through television, books, magazines,
public speakers and the Internet.
Furthermore,
the private sector participation in public diplomacy can
provide an important source of credibility when dealing
with controversial issues that might have negative
political or diplomatic repercussions if the
government's hand were too visible.
Second, the
US should promote more high-level contacts with both
developed and developing nations in Southeast Asia. In
addition, devoting more resources to developing
international and intercultural exchanges will help to
improve trust and mutual understanding between the US
and other countries in Asia.
The US is currently
in an election year. For the next eight months the US
public will be mesmerized by which democratic candidate
will be able to challenge the Bush administration to
become the 43rd president of the US. What many Americans
seem to forget is that failure to improve the US image
in Asia and other parts of the world, will lead to its
weaker presence and overall influence in the
international community.
Earl Carr is
a research associate, working in the Asia studies
department at the Council on Foreign Relations in
Washington, DC. He has lived and studied in China and
Japan.
The Council on Foreign Relations
is an independent, national membership organization and
nonpartisan center for scholars dedicated to producing
and disseminating ideas so that individual and corporate
members, as well as policymakers, journalists, students
and interested citizens in the US and other countries
can better understand the world and the foreign policy
choices facing the US and other governments.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have their
say. Please
click here if
you are interested in contributing.
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