WASHINGTON - Call it the "wooing and
booing" strategy. Washington is reaching out to Beijing
on such issues as North Korea's nuclear program and the
"war on terrorism". At the same time, the administration
of President George W Bush is blaming China for
America's trade deficit and gearing up to slam Beijing
on human rights at the United Nations this month. Many
conservative supporters of the administration, a key
constituency in this United States election year, are
not satisfied with the even-handed approach and would
prefer a great deal more booing than wooing.
Since September 11, 2001, the US has sought a
closer tactical alliance with China. The administration
has relied on China to put pressure on its erstwhile
ally North Korea to participate in the six-party talks
that just finished an inconclusive second round in
Beijing. The US has gone so far as to establish an FBI
office in Beijing in order to deepen cooperation on
combating international crime. Summing up this recent
detente, US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared
US-Chinese relations at their best point since 1972,
when the Shanghai Communique was signed and Sino-US
relations began to open up.
The most dramatic
nod toward Beijing came in December when President Bush
publicly chastised Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian
for challenging the status quo in cross-Strait relations
by pushing ahead with a March 20 referendum in which
voters will be asked whether China should be requested
to redirect its 496 missiles pointed at Taiwan, and if
it refuses, whether Taiwan should seek advanced defense
technology. The rebuke was all the more stinging because
it occurred during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's trip to
the US last December.
While some conservatives
hailed the move, the Nixon Center's China scholar, David
Lampton, cited the need to be "periodically firm" during
a recent lecture. Others were appalled at the decision
to chastise Taipei - a close military ally - so openly.
"Don't stand there with a guy who hasn't faced an
electorate in his life and accuse Chen Shui-bian of
being a bad guy," says Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor
of International Relations at the University of
Pennsylvania. "That sends a wrong message to the world."
The public dressing down of Taiwan was only the
latest in a series of disappointments for
neo-conservative backers of the president. "We've been
very critical on how human rights and democracy have not
been a priority in China relations," says Ellen Bork of
the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), a
neo-conservative organization credited with influencing
the administration's foreign policy. "Last spring, there
was a little blip with the State Department making a
surge to restore some of the integrity of the human
rights component in China policy [but] it hasn't panned
out very well."
Human rights 'stuff' just
messes up a vital relationship Waldron identifies
a group within both the Democratic and Republican
parties that is lobbying hard to downplay human rights
in order to achieve a closer economic and security
relationship with China, "There is a group in both
parties that says, '[the Chinese] may be nasty but
they're not about to go away. And furthermore they're
changing and we don't want to rub them the wrong way.
This human rights stuff, all it does is mess up the
relationship and irritate the Chinese.'"
Neo-conservatives, who prioritize human rights
over traditional realpolitik considerations, have
mobilized to shift administration policy away from
Beijing. "I think the administration is feeling the heat
and that's why they've eased off the pressure on
Taiwan," says John Tkacik of the Heritage Foundation, a
conservative Washington think-tank. "Let's just say the
usual suspects have been talking to the administration
quietly."
There is some evidence that groups
like the Project for a New American Century and the
Heritage Foundation are getting their message across.
Last year, the US failed for the first time in five
years to introduce a resolution condemning China at the
UN Human Rights Commission. Next month, however, the
administration is set to resume the tradition, a
significant sop to the so-called China bashers.
Taiwan supporters point to this renewed concern
for human rights, as well as unprecedented military
cooperation between Washington and Taipei, as proof of
the administration's real priorities. Joyce Shieh, head
of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, does not
believe that the Bush administration has abandoned
Taiwan but has simply made certain political
adjustments. "Deep down, his [Bush's] support for Taiwan
is the same," she says. The debate on China policy in
Washington hinges on whether Beijing has made a profound
or merely a tactical shift in its foreign policy - on
North Korea, relations in the South China Sea and
non-proliferation. "There's undeniable evidence that
China has shifted rather dramatically not only in the
manner it handles diplomacy but it is also more
proactive in a variety of venues, taking much greater
responsibility for issues in its neighborhood," says
former Pentagon official Kurt Campbell, now with the
Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Neo-cons say China's shifts are tactical,
dangerous Neo-conservatives disagree, arguing
that China's shifts are merely tactical and ultimately
dangerous. China, claims John Tkacik, "has been
successful so long as America's attention is diverted
elsewhere. The longer America is distracted, the more
time China has to build up its influence in Asia ... to
the detriment of democratic evolution in the region."
Waldron, of the University of Pennsylvania, adds, "If we
find ourselves in a tight spot in Asia, the other
democratic countries will come help us. The Chinese
won't."
China policy has already become an
election issue in the US. In a debate last month, strong
Taiwan supporter Senator Joseph Lieberman squared off
against Senator John Kerry. Instead of simply adhering
to the standard "one China" policy, Kerry praised the
"one China, two systems" model applied to Hong Kong, a
formulation certain not to win him any votes among
Taiwan supporters. Now that he's nearly locked up the
Democratic nomination, though, Kerry will likely return
to the perennial China-bashing of a presidential
hopeful. The Democrats will soon take aim at the Bush
administration for letting the trade deficit with China
exceed US$100 billion annually, the largest deficit the
US has run with any country.
A State Department
official, speaking on condition that he not be
identified, gave the standard, balanced and not
particularly nuanced administration line: "We support
democracy in Taiwan. Referenda are a democratic tool. We
have concerns about anything that would affect stability
in the region. We are opposed to any unilateral actions
on either side to disrupt the status quo."
He
added, "We are concerned about the human rights
situation in China. There's been some backsliding. The
Chinese haven't lived up to our expectations."
Although the Bush administration's "wooing and
booing" strategy attempts to make everyone happy, the
results may not please anyone. "The Bush administration
promised that the professionals are back in town," says
former Pentagon official Campbell. But the
administration has handled the Taiwan referendum issue,
he continued, "with the clumsiness that is the hallmark
of every other administration on cross-Straits relations
over the last 20 years."
John Feffer
(www.johnfeffer.com) is the author, most recently, of
North Korea, South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of
Crisis (Seven Stories).
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