Turning the Focus Outward

Yesterday U.S. president Obama held a discussion for over an hour with a group of Chinese students at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Broadcast in its entirety over television and the Internet for rapid dissemination to China and the rest of the world, it was the subject of much attention.

Obama is not the first U.S. leader to hold direct talks with average Chinese citizens since the start of the reform era – both Clinton and the two Bushes held discussions and exchanges with Chinese students and other sectors of society at universities and other locations. But this does seem to be the first time such talks were broadcast over the Internet. So the form of this talk is new, but is the content or style?

Similar to talks of the past, Obama’s speech emphasized the purpose of his visit as well as the priorities and concerns of the U.S. and its leader. But in a departure from former leaders, Obama didn’t linger over American values and did his best to avoid controversial topics. Not only did he repeatedly discuss the importance of cultural diversity and respect toward other traditions and values, he reviewed over 200 years of U.S.-China diplomacy and dwelt on the positive moments of friendship and cooperation, quoting the familiar Chinese proverb, “Consider the past and you shall know the future.” Where past leaders used such talks to try to make the Chinese understand American thinking, Obama is obviously trying his best to project a new image of himself and the American people as trying to understand China and its people.

The complementary aspect of this speech is the Chinese student representatives. In past events, questions brought up by Chinese citizens were mostly about Chinese topics and basically revolved around U.S.-China relations, based on such concerns as “How does the U.S. view China?” or “How will the U.S. approach China?” This talk also featured many such questions, but there were also some notably broader, further-ranging questions.

For example, as the audience listened with interest to such various issues as global warming, the situation in Afghanistan, information exchange in the internet era, Obama’s thoughts on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and his personal success story, a new trend became apparent – the new generation of Chinese youth were not content in merely taking this opportunity to make Americans understand China, but also showed a greater interest in the American people and their concerns.

From focusing on ourselves to focusing on others, from wanting others to heed our concerns to thinking about theirs – when both sides of the dialogue show such a trend, the credit must go to the arrival of the information era, development of society, advancement of globalization, changes in international politics, and a broader, more mature vision on both sides.

Going from wanting others to understand us to trying to understand others isn’t just an outward change; it’s a condition and foundation for mutual communication, understanding, respect, and cooperation between the U.S. and China. When such an attitude is no longer limited to special discussions but gradually spreads to diplomatic relations and everyday exchanges between people, it will have a deep, meaningful impact.

Of course, this is only a start. As he said in a speech in Japan, Obama isn’t avoiding the topic of American values; he wants to discuss it in private with Hu Jintao. This dialogue, while positive, is only one aspect of relations between the two nations. It’s a normal part of international relations, which should be clearly understood and properly approached by everyone who participated in and cares about this dialogue.