China is an emerging superpower. Unlike the war- experienced Unites States, China’s military might has not been flexed in recent history. China is one of the world’s largest countries; it is also the most populous, with 1.3 billion people. There are four Chinese for every one American. It has an active military significantly larger than that of the U.S. It is the world’s second largest economy. The politics of China are socialist or communist. Its government resembles the political label some place on American congressional Republicans. Chinese communists are the party of ‘No’. No multi party elections, no separation of powers, no federal system, no privatization, and no diversity. Aside from its stark differences with the U.S., it is #1 in foreign holdings of U.S. debt, estimated at $1.3 trillion.
U.S.-China relations currently center around our economies, trade, and competition. But for 30 years, until 1979, the United States did not recognize the People’s Republic of China (PRC), it recognized the Taiwan based government called the Republic of China (ROC). To date, the PRC continues to recognize Taiwan as its 23rd province, while the Taiwan based ROC constitutionally includes mainland China as its territory. Neither considers the other sovereign. Although this Chinese Civil War ended in 1950, the political environment remains hot and tense.
In 1979, China introduced laws that limited most parents to having only one child. The average Chinese family was accustomed to having four children. It is estimated the law prevented between 200 to 400 million births. The U.S. State Department, alongside organizations like Amnesty International, has called the Chinese out on their human rights record.
China has recently loosened the controversial one-child policy. Now, under the eased policy, a parent who is an only child can have two children. The policy has many other exceptions, but one-child is still the general rule. China encouraged having large families 50 years ago, hence its almost 1 billion population by 1980. The social and economic problems that would come with such growth were unforeseeable. The country needed to do something to curb growth, so one-child became the policy. But is the right to determine the size of your own family violated if society wants the limitation for generational planning? A vast majority of Chinese support the law. It’s easy for the United States to scream violation. Our population growth never had and never will have the social, economic, and environmental consequences that faced China.
Aside from the one-child policy, the freedom of speech and to congregate and protest that is enjoyed in the United States, can be a crime in China. Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng organized a class action lawsuit regarding the one-child policy, was incarcerated, denied access to his lawyers and imprisoned over 4 years. He was able to escape an illegal house arrest to reach the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. The United States was not much of a role model on this issue 50 years ago when it came to peaceful Black protesters, but our issue has never been about one party keeping its power by detaining or incarcerating its critics.
Keeping up with the times, China’s supreme court has recently upheld new laws that even regulate what is said on the internet and social media. When President Xi Jinping took office last year, there were high hopes of change, however, the new leadership is being accused of harsher and crueler tactics than ever before. More and more protesters, critics, and people who want to participate in the political process are criminally accused and incarcerated than ever before, according to reports. In May 2012, Google executive Eric Schmidt recently told students at the University of Hong Kong that the country’s economy will stall if its people are not allowed to think and speak freely.
This brings us back to the reasons the United States has such an interest in China. Aside from their owning $1.3 trillion in U.S. Securities due to trade deficits, China only invests 2% of its foreign investments in the Unites States. A better number would be closer to 15%, especially when they are expected to make over $1 trillion in foreign investments over the next 10 years. Instead of just being an exporter, the U.S. wants China to be an investor. China’s got it and our country needs their contribution to lend to our economic recovery.
Vice-President Joe Biden’s previously planned visit to Japan, China, and South Korea was to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement, but it has become a trip to defuse tensions over China’s new controversial expansion of its “air defense identification zone.” Adding to the tension is the United States flying B-52 bombers over the area. The United States and Japan reject China’s new air defense zone. Japan’s defense has relied on U.S. forces there since after their World War II surrender. Messing with Japan is messing with us. We have over 40,000 military and civilian personnel stationed there who are ready to go.
Biden’s touchdown in Japan on Monday has reassured our ally that we are at their defense. But this problem is quietly very troubling as China continues to assert its growing power in the region. The possibility of an incident in the zone could trigger open hostilities. The islands at issue under this air space have been a long standing territorial claim by China but its new claim of the airspace is suspicious. It is not a path toward peace but one toward war. The Chinese military hasn’t seen action since Vietnam. It’s now far bigger and more powerful and looking for a fight. Let’s just hope it doesn’t go that far.
