Obama in China - Visit might help rebuild economies
It was almost as if he had flown Airforce One to Mars. We all craned to look over his shoulder with a combination of curiosity, awe, great ignorance and more than a little fear.
Everything was different; the scale of the country, the size of the population, the dominance of the apparatus of the state, the unchallenged single party system, the regimentation, the culture of obedience but, most of all, the relative poverty endured stoically by the vast majority of hundreds of millions of ordinary Chinese people.
Though it’s nearly 40 years since the out-of-character Nixon visit less than 20 years had then passed since American and Chinese troops fought each other in Korea. Despite all of the back-channel preparations there was no guarantee that the approach would prove as successful as it did. Today we can recognise it, and Henry Kissinger’s role in it, as one of the great, far-seeing acts of 20th century diplomacy, one that has shaped the modern world.
President Barack Obama began a visit to China on Sunday as determined to get Chinese support as Nixon was to break down barriers. And today, with our broken economies and whole industries changed by globalisation, we must all hope that he will be as successful as his predecessor was.
He needs Beijing’s help on a whole range of issues, all of which will have — ultimately — an impact on our ability to rebuild our economy. President Obama needs China’s help to stabilise the global financial system and to confront climate change. He also needs help neutralising North Korea’s nuclear weapons, and ensuring that Iran doesn’t get to build any.
America has accepted a rising China, as the world’s third-largest economy and the largest holder of American debt, has shifted the dynamic more toward one of equals. For instance, Chinese questions about how Washington spending policies will affect the soaring US deficit and the safety of Chinese investments now must be answered by Washington.
Yesterday President Obama encouraged China to stop censoring internet access, suggesting that Beijing need not fear a little criticism. He focused on one of the great divides separating communist China and the West — human rights.
That is why these engagements are so important. Co-operation will build confidence and confidence will encourage growth bringing the kind of social stability that will encourage openness and challenge the insularity that tolerates human rights abuses in China.
If the talks are as fruitful as they might be the links between the world’s two superpowers will have been strengthened and that must be good for us all.
