The future of U.S. relationship with China starts today
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 9:26 AM PST
By Lam Luu / for The Daily News
Printable version
E-mail this articleWatching a CBS Evening News Special series “Primary Questions” the other night, a sensational leading question captured my attention.
Anchor Katie Couric asked presidential candidates which country scares them the most, and if they were president, what would they do about it.
Nine of the 12 candidates listed Iran; two, including Hillary Clinton, mentioned Pakistan; and a lone John Edwards commented, “Scares me the most in terms of America and being president, China, because I think China presents huge challenges for America because of their size, because of their population.”
Sensing the ratings rocket during this prime time show, Couric then challenged Edwards’ manhood asking, “What would you do about it?” After a pause, he murmured, “Well, it is a complex engagement.”
It is obvious to me that while the other presidential hopefuls spoke of war and terror, Sen. Edwards chose to focus on economics underpinned by education. His choice to mention China wasn’t based so much on increasing military strength, rather it concerned market competition and the country’s preference for putting heads down and concentrating on domestic development rather than external foreign agendas.
As a voter and in researching presidential candidates’ backgrounds, I’ve learned that Edwards came to China in October of last year. He met with the nation’s top education, economic and environment ministers. A week after returning to the U.S., he gave an interview with the Asia Society, a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational institution that seeks to promote greater knowledge of Asia in the U.S.
During this interview he said: “There is no more important relationship that America has than our relationship with China. It’s a relationship, that from my perspective as a Democrat, has not gotten the attention that it should have gotten over the last few years.” He then added that 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq were key distractions for the current administration.
He also said during the interview: “China is going to become the largest English-speaking country on the face of the planet because they require that their kids in school learn to speak English. And they are completely invested, both financially and emotionally, in closing the education gap that exists in China — both regionally and between the better off families and those that are poor. About half their kids major in science, math, technology — the areas which I think are critical to success in today’s world. By comparison, they graduate somewhere around 10 times the number of engineers that we graduate each year.”
Only last week the third China-U.S. strategic economic dialogue took place in Beijing. In the lead-up to the inaugural meeting last year, Edwards spoke critically of the fact that the Bush administration wasted six years before getting around to high level talks with China. Edwards was encouraged by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s initiative though wished it had taken place much earlier.
Back at the Asia Society interview, Edwards said: “I think that, by no means, is it pre-determined where this relationship (China-U.S.) is headed. There’s great potential and there are great challenges. And we just need to engage this relationship with our eyes wide open in a thoughtful and visionary way. And I think there is great potential for success if we do that. Ignoring the relationship or not giving it the attention it deserves is a huge mistake.”
The future of China-U.S. relations is promising. But this promising future will not come automatically. Its materialization depends on the attitude we adopt and the choices we make today.
Lam Luu resides in Longview.
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