The Smiling Superpower

Yang Jiechi demonstrates China’s self-confidence.

According to the cliché, the Chinese are a polite people. China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is a perfect example of that. He represented his nation at the Munich Security Conference that, despite the peace movement’s claims to the contrary, was different this time. He spoke plain and easily understandable English, flattered his hosts with quotations from Goethe, and came off as amicable, witty and confident. In other words, he was Chinese.

An analysis of his remarks, however, leads one to a different conclusion. If the Chinese language weren’t as flowery as it is, you could easily compare his speech to the famous remark made by Götz von Berlichingen.* Yang addressed all topics politely, even emotional questions put by attendees, but patiently made it clear to everyone who had the final word. China, he said, was a developing country that would need decades to reach Western living standards. The implication was that it had to proceed slowly and carefully on matters such as environmental protection, which had to be reconciled with the nation’s production capabilities. Of course, they would do whatever they could. North Korea? Yes, that’s a bad situation. The rest of the world has to negotiate patiently with them. (In plain language, they should only worry about the loonies in Pyongyang freaking out; fate would take care of the rest.)

On Afghanistan, the foreign minister reminded everyone that China was very much opposed to terrorism, narcotics and other evils. They wouldn’t engage militarily there, but would invest in its economy and then negotiate, calmly and collectedly, with its leaders. Should the U.S. come up with an exit strategy there? The U.S. will have to leave some day. The only alternative would be to destroy the whole country, something that would make them very popular with some people in that region.

Google? It’s a large corporation and has its merits, but it also should respect China’s customs and traditions. Tibet? Sinkiang? Both regions belong historically to China and, in the final analysis, the people there have it good. If the Dalai Lama longs to reach nirvana, he should go there. The U.S. arming Taiwan is a bad idea and it should surprise no one if that upsets the Chinese people. Iran? China doesn’t support further economic sanctions and absolutely rules out military action (thank heavens), but Yang implied that Ahmedinejad had already won that battle.

The only remaining issue was China’s relationship with the United States, its president, vice president and secretary of state, all of whom were conspicuously absent from the conference. They probably had begun writing Europe off and were refocusing on the far east. Yang, of course, realizes that the United States has been in decline for decades with no signs of an imminent turn-around. He also knows that, without Chinese credit and investment, the United States would have long ago become what the unfortunate former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt once called “Upper Volta with nuclear weapons,” referring to the Soviet Union.

Yang behaved as if he represented a superpower. It was totally justified.

*Translator’s Note: Götz was a 15th century imperial knight who, when asked by the Bishop of Bamberg to surrender his castle, replied that the Bishop could kiss his backside. The “Götz quote” is a traditional euphemism in the German language for that insult.