August 14, 2007
The China Conundrum
The Chinaphobia train grew a little more powerful today, but there are various ways to view our emerging supercompetitor to the East.
One is the What, Us Worry? approach. The repetition of product recalls and bans this year exposed a large, ugly gash in the exports machine China's become. Sure, they can turn out commodities faster and cheaper, but where's the quality control? For nations including the U.S. and Germany, which lead China in exports but not for long, this is potentially good news. Those fearing China's economic reach will soon envelop the world have good reason to suspect the communist giant can't logistically handle the task after all.
The other, darker vision of what's ahead: China, as both manufacturer and investor, is simply too wealthy and ambitious to ignore. The relationships China has developed with countries like Iran and Russia have given rise to an alternative axis of world powers that has successfully stymied the agendas of the U.S. and EU. China is rising, and no amount of crowing about its lax human rights record and alarming income gap will change that.
When outsiders talk about China's growing economic and military strength, they are referring to a sliver of what that country actually is. Broad swaths of China more closely resemble the third world than neighboring Japan and South Korea. Beijing has much housecleaning to do if it wants to claim superpower status alongside the United States.
There is, however, a disturbing trend afoot that could render concerns about China's domestic poverty and health epidemics moot. China found its path to a quasi-free market economy under global pressure but largely on its own terms. Beijing's temper is quick to flare when outsiders offer their thoughts on how the country should move forward on political, human rights and economic reforms. That philosophy also extends to China's partners: it has a remarkably laissez-faire approach to investment.
That attitude is clearest in Africa. Where the West sees a continent of chaos and corruption, Beijing sees a gigantic pinata bulging with natural gas, oil, minerals and contracts. Moreover, China is willing to pour billions into Africa without all those pesky anti-corruption and pro-human rights provisions the World Bank and other global lenders usually attach to aid and investment there.
It is in many ways the start of a beautiful friendship: Don't tell us how to run our country and we'll do the same for you. The growing bond between China and some African nations in turn puts the West in a bind. Basic infrastructure and telecommunications improvements are increasingly coming courtesy of Beijing. The West has agonized over how to lift Africa out of failed statehood for decades. In the short time that China has shown real interest, the continent is actually seeing results.
Famed economist Jeffrey Sachs, for one, thinks the World Bank could learn a thing or two by China's example. Other observers, such as Africabeat blogger Jennifer Bréa, are more pessimistic about the China-fication of Africa.
The threats represented by its economy and killer toothpaste have thrust China into the 2008 presidential campaigns. During last week's AFL-CIO Democratic debate, most of the candidates expressed alarm at China's growing advantage over the U.S. economy.
The U.S. well knows that scolding China isn't likely to work. Meanwhile, the Bush administration has been quietly courting oil interests in Africa for years.
As independent-minded as China professes to be, it badly wants to impress the world when it hosts next year's Olympic games. Right behind the food and product scares is an attempt to squeeze China on its relationship with Sudan. Celebrities and politicians are threatening to embarrass Beijing with a boycott unless it pressures Sudan to intervene in the Darfur genocide. For now, China is refusing to blink. But if there's one thing that country hates more than losing business, it's losing face.
Graphic: Ryan Merrill
Posted at 6:35 PM
Posted to:
Africa, Asia, Bush Administration, Campaigns, China, Democrats, Economy, Sudan, WH 2008
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