China: Now With America's Attention Back

The War on Terror has left the United States weakened, but it has also led more people than ever before to understand that there is no weapon stronger than democracy, freedom and human rights, that any idea which needs to destroy or fight concepts like these is backwards and destined to fail. The United States and other western countries have taken on foes a hundred times greater than Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, such as the former Soviet Union, but then they didn't go around saying that they had “beat” anyone. And why not? Because it was the universal concepts of freedom, democracy and human rights which ended up beating the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; Americans didn't even fire a single shot.

Anyone who still doesn't believe that need only look at the vast amounts of money and sweat the Americans are pumping into Iraq, and compare that to the relative distance the US has recently kept from countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and even Libya, and that yet it still could not offset the explosion of revolutionary calls for democracy, freedom and fair treatment in these countries.

Ten years on, the US has annihilated another main enemy, China is halfway risen, and now the two countries are once again at a crossroads. So now what? The three main factors driving Sino-American Relations are the economy, politics and security. So-called security means that the American military stays positioned on top all around the world and, with the rise of China's military in Asia, both sides are able to maintain peaceful coexistence.

So-called politics, as far as the United States is concerned, refers to values and concepts like freedom and democracy; with these, America has become the strongest country in the world and remains uncontested, with every nation so far to try going against these concepts ending up in ruin. Will America keep playing this game until one day it uses some fatal weapon, wiping all nondemocratic systems off the face of the earth in one shot?

As far as I know, there definitely still exist people who think like that in power in the US. They have power, but as for whether or not they'll end up forming the mainstream and taking over is determined by how steady the economy remains, or if a major military conflict takes place. I came to the conclusion quite some time ago that with respect to the economic relationship between China and the US, and China's steadily growing overall national strength, the US will never think lightly about attacking China.

At the same time, if China undergoes some sort of transition at its core, nor will the US hold back. Some mainland scholars have argued with me on this, saying that even if trouble does emerge in China, between the trade relationship between the two countries and China's military strength, there isn't much that the US could do in any event. These experts, however, overestimate the longterm beneficial impact of the trade relationship between China and the US to the US. To be honest, the only people directly affected by the US and China's trade relationship are the current round of presidential candidates.

This is why, before he seeks to get reelected, Obama sent Biden to come cozy up to China, in the hope that China will leverage the Renminbi to keep the US stable. As for military strength, I used to be a super military geek, or did you forget?

Back to the point, [the US] shouldn't avoid a China as its stands at a crossroads. Be it the newly published China's Peaceful Development white paper ^[5], or promises our leaders make to different countries as they travel around, China has been constantly making repeated calls to the international community that it hopes to pursue democracy in its international exchanges, as well as fully achieve equality with all other member-states, urging for mutual acceptance and tolerance despite differences, encouraging diversity, etc. The problem, though, is: are there any countries that actually trust Beijing?

Because why would they? If you're going to make the case for values and notions like this among the international community, you need to start practicing them yourself, first. If you can't even give your own citizens democracy, equality, mutual acceptance or respect for their individual rights, how are you going to be able to do so at an international level? If you want to rise peacefully, to foster peace and harmony between different states, the second people get a glimpse of what you mean by “harmony” ^[6], why wouldn't suspect that the minute you gain strength, that you'd treat them the same way you do your own people, and try and make the world just as “harmonious” as things are in your country?

The way I see it, China's problems aren't in its diplomatic affairs, and not in Sino-American relations, or military security, but in its domestic affairs, in the path and system that we have chosen, and whether or not these will be able to ensure that citizens will be afforded their constitutional rights and freedoms. Whether citizens will truly granted their democratic rights to rule their country the way they see fit.