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The Spectacle Blog
The Obama administration and its Democratic allies in Congress are no friends of free trade. Their myopia is effectively reducing America’s economic ties with other nations precisely when potential rivals are expanding theirs. For instance, China has signed a free trade accord with the ASEAN states, extending Beijing’s economic and political reach in Southeast Asia and among Muslim nations. Warns Joshua Trevino:
The political dimension of this convergence is a bit more worrying to the United States. Where, after all, do the political interests of Chinese and most Islamic states coincide? It’s a bad list: in the suppression of democracy, in the denial of minority rights, and in the rejection of Western dominance. The ASEAN nations themselves aren’t quite so uniformly malign, though they do have their bad actors in Burma, Vietnam, and Laos - but neither will they have much interest in countering the Chinese-Islamic concurrence on these points. We already see it in effect in international fora, most recently in the failed Copenhagen talks, when Sudan served as a Chinese proxy for the disruption of the proposed treaty. (This may actually be the first and only time Americans can applaud this partnership.) Expect more of this, and expect it to spill into war-and-peace matters in decades to come. If the Islamic world perceives China as a counterweight to Western influence - and if Chinese nationalism desires to be perceived as that counterweight - that’s a series of difficult choices for American policymakers in the years ahead.
Yet Congress can’t be bothered to ratify the U.S.-South Korea FTA even as China’s trade with the South races past that of America. Beijing’s influence in Asia is bound to continue rising, but there’s no reason for Washington to toss away America’s strongest card: trade and investment.
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More Blog Posts by Doug Bandow
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/01/04/china-expands-ties-to-asean-an
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Wong in Hong Kong| 1.4.10 @ 5:40AM
This article may contain some confused thinking regarding China's current and long-term strategy.
China is not interested in challenging US military or political leadership for at least two decades, if ever, except in those discrete areas touching upon its most narrow self-interest (staving off Taiwanese independence and preservation of Communist Party rule being the two most important examples).
Entirely in their own self-interest, the Chinese do not wish to expend the time, effort or money necessary to truly challenge the US in the military or political spheres; they're happy to let us carry the global burden and probably think we're fools to do so.
Yes, as the author avers, tthe Chinese will do business with anti-democratic Islamic hellholes, but they hold their nose as they do so, especially to the extent that they are sympathetic to the Uighur cause in China's western regions.
However, the Chinese are openly challenging, and will continue to challenge, Western and US economic leadership, without surcease, in every commercial area, including manufacturing, financial markets, logistics and information technology. They make no apologies for it and we better raise our game take their economic threat seriously.
This naturally leads one to look on with alarm as the US raises taxes on its citizens and corporations (Cap and trade? The Chinese must think the US is positively suicidal!) at precisely the time the US needs to do the opposite.
Wong in Hong Kong| 1.4.10 @ 5:47AM
Sorry, I owe an apology to Mr. Bandow. I should not have said the article may contain "confused thinking". It does not.
The point I meant to make was that we should let ourselves get confused about the true nature of the China threat, nor should we conflate it with our legitimate political and security concerns arising from the Islamic world.
Wong in Hong Kong| 1.4.10 @ 5:48AM
"...we should not let ourselves get confused..."
Pingback| 1.4.10 @ 6:10AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : China Expands Ties to A links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.4.10 @ 8:44AM
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.4.10 @ 8:41AM
Wong,
Welcome to our conversations here.
Thank you for that perspective.
For many years, we here in the US possessed the most successful template for wealth creation and living standards improvement ever seen on earth.
We somehow threw away the "template" with the current administration, but I hope we can go find it in the trash next November (elections). If we do, and "take care of business", we can welcome China to world stage economically.
If we take care of business properly, we shall also level the playing field somewhat in our international trade agreements. We shall cease being the indulgent rich uncle and begin driving better bargains with our international competitors,
(like clamping down on inventions piracy etc.)
I look forward to hearing from you again.
Pingback| 1.4.10 @ 2:06PM
ChinaClip - The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : China Expands Ties to ASEAN … links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : China Expands Ties to ASEAN … | Arabic names links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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Late Pennsylvania budget, Capitol cafeteria earn Dubious … | Pennsylvania Real Estate links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
TonyG| 1.28.10 @ 10:27PM
The political dimension of this convergence is a bit more worrying to the United States of America. Where, after all, do the political interests of Chinese, ASEAN and Islamic states coincide? toenail fungus treatments