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KEVIN LAMARQUE / Reuters
Frenemies? Chinese and U.S. flags fly along Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House on Tuesday ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit.
By Eric Baculinao, NBC News Beijing Bureau Chief
BEIJING – As Chinese President Hu Jintao embarks on his landmark state visit to the United States, there is a lot of chatter on the Internet and among academics in China about the superpowers’ meeting.
The range of opinions in China reflects the wide variety of issues that have complicated bilateral relations of late: from Taiwan, Tibet and human rights to currency, trade and military rivalry in the Asia-Pacific region.
But while the official message from Beijing is that the state visit presents a good opportunity for the two countries to meet and readjust relations, one noted scholar has bluntly called for an end to the “superficial friendship” between the two countries.
High demands
Gauging public opinion in China is never a simple task. A cursory search for “Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S.” is stopped by the Great Firewall and met with a message that “your search is blocked in accordance with relevant laws.”
But a more creative and neutral search for “Big Boss Hu’s visit” or “President’s visit to the U.S.” gives a clue to Chinese opinions about the state visit. Many expressed concerns over economic issues.
“Let’s see how many business orders Big Boss Hu will bring to the U.S. this time,” wrote one commentator.
“The visit will be successful if the U.S. halts arms sale to Taiwan, stops pressuring China on currency issues, and lifts the ban on high-tech exports to China,” said another. “It will be a failure if only a $20 billion business deal is signed.”
Another expressed outrage over the currency issue. “The dollar-renminbi exchange rate is approaching the 6.5 level!...This shows how the ******* party is really good at fawning over the U.S.”
Key word: cooperation
Nevertheless, the official theme from Beijing seems to be acknowledging “differences” between the two countries, but emphasizing “cooperation.” Hu even weighed in himself to try to set a positive tone for his visit.
In written answers to questions from the Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, Hu called for an end to the anachronistic “zero-sum Cold War mentality” in China-U.S. relations and proposed increased cooperation.
“The visit’s timing is very good after Sino-American relations experienced a year of wind and rain,” Prof. Song Guoyou of the Center for American Studies told the Dazhong-Qilu Evening News. “It’s time to adjust.”
Fudan University professor Wu Xinbo also told the state-run Global Times newspaper that Hu’s visit “should make clear that the basic tone of Sino-U.S. relations is cooperation rather than competition or confrontation.”
However, Beijing Institute of Technology professor Hu Xingdou, a prolific blogger on economic and political issues, was a little more skeptical of how much relations can improve.
“China-U.S. relations can never be too good or too bad,” said Hu. “They need each other but they can’t become true friends because of fundamental differences in their political and values systems,” he said. “The visit will only have short-term influence.”
Danger of ‘pretending to be friends’
But the most provocative view from China was aired by Prof. Yan Xuetong, the highly-respected director of the Institute of International Relations at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University.
“The visit is very important because the relationship is declining and the visit should aim to stabilize the relationship,” he told NBC News.
Still Yan, an author and expert on international security issues, argues that the policy of China and the U.S. “pretending to be friends” is destabilizing and dangerous and can only lead to miscalculations and conflict.
“Certain people might argue that the mutual delusion of friendship serves the interests of both China and the United States, but this argument lacks hard evidence and logical support,” Yan said.
“Being superficial enemies would be a better choice for China and the United States to stabilize and improve their relations if they have no way to become real friends,” Yan wrote in the Chinese Journal of International Politics late last year. “If we look in detail at the strategic interests of China and the United States, we find more confrontational and conflicting interests than common and complementary ones.”
“To enlarge mutually favorable interests, China and the United States should give up the policy of pretending to be friends. A policy of clarity serves their interests better than one that is ambiguous,” he argued.
No one hopes that China and the U.S. become real enemies, he said, but if they cannot become real friends, then “superficial enmity” is more stabilizing than “superficial friendship.”
“Inconsistency between knowledge and the reality is a main destabilizing factor in bilateral relations,” he warned.
NBC News researcher He Xin contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
We are not friends, why pretend.
We are neither friends nor enemies, we are trading partners, just as I am neither friends nor enemies with the guy who runs the local grocery store or electronics shop.
Lets not pretend, that the USA is dependent upon the Chinese more the ever. First, China holds US currency reserves above 2 trillion USD, China holds over 900 billion in US Treasury bonds, China has an increasing trade surplus with the USA because US companies have abandon the high labor cost in America, which labor unions in our beloved USA have increased year after year. China is in the position to becoming the next economic superpower, with increasing influence around the world. Now ask yourself again, "We are not friends, why pretend". China and other Asian countries was once the slaves to the world, however they are becoming the master of the planet. The moral of the story is, "If you work hard, you can achieve anything", even if no one wants to be your friend!!!
Israel pretends to be a friend of America and look at all the cooperation it gets! 3+ Billion dollars per year in free cash, even more billions in free US weapons all off the backs of the tired American taxpayers. Jonathan Pollard the American traitor turned evil Israeli Spy stole the extremely top secret NATO WW3 battle plans and the extremely top secret lists of all the undercover agents in Europe, Middle East and Russia who with the blessings from Israel were sold to Russia for cash and diplomatic favors! 40+ undercover CIA agents were captured by the Russian troops, tortured and then executed. Israel is not a true friend nor a true ally to America.
So why can't China pretend to be a friend of America, after all China does for America far more than Israel ever has nor ever will. Israel is a parasite on the backs of the tired America taxpayers unlike China.
Does China pretend to be a friend, especially when it loaned money to the USA for the economic bailout, that Bush created. Does China pretend to be a friend, when Chinese car companies like Geely, move some of their manufacturing operations, into jobless areas of Michigan's old auto industry. Japan has does these same things for the USA and are considered a good friend to the USA, so is China pretending to be a friend. Remember history, Japan attacked the USA in 1941, China has never made any aggressive acts against our beloved America. America has benefited on the backs of hard working exploited Chinese workers, that make those wonderful I-Phones and endless creature comforts we have grown to love. So still think China is Pretending!!!
Like all great Empires, America's time has passed. Everyone outside the U.S. knows this. The only reason half the U.S. allies are allies at all is because the U.S. has a big military, which the U.S. tax payer finances when every other country in the world spends their money on healthcare and education. Here is a hint, cut off ties to Israel and then you won't have terrorists bombing you.. It is the U.S. foreign policy concerning Israel that makes it a target to terrorists. China is no threat to America, they will not invade the U.S. any more than the U.S. will invade them. Take a hint from the rest of the world and mind your own business America... remember when you used to be a super power which was respected.. America was always best when it minded it's own business, which has sense gone out the window.
Both countries will gain more by being friends than being enemies.
So, I say be friends.
China's intentions are not peaceful. They are not idiots like us. They will dominate us in everyway: economically, militarily, socially, culturally. They are going to squish us like a bug.
Chuck, you are probably right. It is that, "Conquer and Divide" attitude that has satuated the American way of life. Let's don't forget, Chinese students lead the world in all areas of education. China was built on hard work and it will continue to dominate, until American get up, off their sofa, stop playing those video games or watching reality TV. Reality is happening as we speak and the Chinese are going to serve the USA a large piece of humble pie!!!
Sure we should pretend we are friends. We pretend we are not bankrupt as we pass gigantic new idiotic programs like Obamacare. How hard could it be? Pass the free healthcare bong pipe.
should we live in a fantasy world? of course not, lets be frank , be truthful and sincere even if it hurts ,eventually ,if theyr'e roses they will bloom.
The Chinese will prop Obama up with loans so he can keep Obamacare funded long enough to try and get re-elected, and Obama will stand aside as American jobs continue to flow away forever to China. It is a marriage made in heaven.
What is the alternative - to be enemies? We really do not want to purposely make them mad. We have too much to lose economically, strategically. We could pretend to be friends and watch our backs. Grin and bear it and plan for the worst.
China is a repressive, authoritarian regime, which as a result of it's recent ascent as an economic superpower seems less and less inclined to reform politically. As a result they have become more a force of instability in the region. Their continued threatening posture towards a democratic Taiwan, support of the North Korean regime, hegemonistic claims over ALL of the South China Sea, their hunger for natural resources, continued territorial disputes with Japan, India, Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, etc.. oppression and defacto cleansing of ethnic minorities, not to mention repression of their own, etc., etc.
I don't know that much about the governments of each country, but they are suppose to serve the interests of the people they represent. As for me and my house, we welcome Chinese students who want to come and visit our great land. That is how we are trying to be friends. One person at a time. Unfortunately, we have seen many of the Chinese becoming Westernized in the worst sense. Several of our guests have been lazy, disrespectful and uninterested in studies. All they care about is internet, videos and shopping. What a switch from just a few years ago when all the Chinese kids were model students and respectful. Now it is about a quarter of the group that are problems. They even say no to the teachers in the mainland now, I hear. So, when you talk about being friends... and what we as a culture are importing... I hope it is not our bad manners. We as a culture need to look carefully about what our values are... is it simply materialism? Or can we reach back to the freedom of doing that which has lasting value. I think if we could only blend the best of both of our cultures the world would benefit. Yes. I am one of those people who pray for peace around the globe... sacrafice my meager income to support that cause and think we are one people on a large planet. We have a God given right to look at what an awesome planet we were given, take care of it, and love one another... including Israel and Palastein... may they have peace.
We've been pretending to be friends for year. I do not believe we should continue to pretend any longer. It's quite obvious that the Chinese government is quite blatantly working against US interests. They don't even bother to hide it anymore. It's time to reduce our dependence upon China anyway possible. Get the debt paid back to them is our very first priority. Then implement tarriff's against goods coming from China into the US. Make it very hard for US companies to ship jobs overseas to the point where they can't afford to stay in business here if they are there (China). Either they are in or they are out and if they are out......they should adjust to living in communist China. It would take time and would hurt like hell...but it would reduce our dependency on them and would increase their dependency upon the US because China is also just as dependent upon the US as we are on them. It's an ever widening gap, though; and they are getting the better end of the deal. Let's change the rules and see how well they will do without the US relationship and all the benefits they reap from the relationship. I can't believe that the US, the most successful country ever to exist on this earth and the democracy of all democracy's is bowing to a COMMUNIST nation........China. It's disgusting.
The implementation of tariffs against Chinese goods have already happened. When the union that represented the tire manufacturing workers complained about competing against cheaper Chinese tires, what did Obama do, slap a tariff on all imported tires from China. Lets be real, Americans love their lifestyle and want others to pay for it, so labor unions have driven wages upward and truly out priced goods being made in the USA. Ask any business owner, the highest expense to their overhead is labor. This is why American companies have decided to relocate to China, to take advantage of the cheap labor. Another thing that is different in China is that companies will get financial support from the government, if it is determined to have an affect on the development of China. We should see this more in our beloved Democracy of the USA, but they choose to support only the big players like Banks, Auto industry, Oil industry and etc. Putting a teriff on all goods imported from China would not be in the best interest for American consumers, since almost everything is made in China. Everything will become more expensive for you and me, as well as our beloved USA government will get more to spend unwisely. It will become a loose/loose situation, mainly on the livelyhood of Americans...