China, Raise Your Voice

We find Americans making high-profiled complaints before almost every Sino-U.S. dialogue. American officials have a silver tongue, and the U.S. media shouts out alongside them like a loudspeaker. They take every opportunity to let us know their dissatisfaction and specific demand of interest, without taking any notice of the tolerance we’ve given out of courtesy. Naturally, it results in a situation where America seems to already take the upper hand in setting up the issues before the dialogue even gets started.

This time, the American officials and media used their usual trick, taking time to make complaints before the dialogue started. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton complained on behalf of those China-based American companies, saying that China has given too much preferential support to the domestic companies and thus harms the fair competition of the market; Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner complained on behalf of American exporters that the RMB exchange rate is unreasonable; even the discontent from the Cheonan incident in Korea was conveyed unmistakably by the Americans.

In terms of complaint, however, China should have much more say in this than America does. Since earlier this year, the American government has seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people in the issues of meeting the Dalai Lama, arms sales to Taiwan and the trading conflicts. We’ve seen through America’s carrot and stick strategy and call for our government to put a stronger stand toward America.

Maybe the voice of the Chinese people is not loud enough to make a difference yet, but when it comes to the issues regarding their own interests, they will not compromise. America has been putting pressure on China’s RMB exchange rate, but the problem is, if the RMB exchange rate rises too fast, tens of thousands of Chinese people may lose their jobs. America put up trade barriers toward China, which also hurt the interest of the ordinary workers in China. America has recently been borrowing from others heavily, and its financial deficit has been rising continually, which, consequently, makes us worry whether the American bonds that we’ve accumulated throughout the decades will just turn worthless overnight.

Earlier this year, Sino-U.S. relations appeared to be tense, which confused many Americans — why does China make a fuss? They thought it was because China had toughened its stand in diplomacy, but actually, what they failed to see was that the influence of public opinion in China had strengthened.

China’s unprecedentedly active public opinion is weighing heavier and heavier in the course of China’s diplomacy. He who fails to realize this change will never truly understand China. If Americans want their complaints to be meaningful, they need to be aware of this change.

The Chinese people bear a deep distrust of America today. If Americans want to regain their trust, nice words are not enough — actual actions also need to be taken. America needs to let the Chinese feel their sincerity by taking actions on specific things. For example, the U.S. government has claimed several times that they will loosen the export control towards China — well, could you please give us a timetable or a plan for that soon?

　　

After a few rounds of dialogue, we can see that the negotiation between China and America can also be seen as a battlefield, on which the two countries compete for wit as well as for courage. Therefore, China, you should learn from America of its complaining strategy: raise your voice — voice your complaints too, especially those of the common people, and media should also do their part and speak for the people more loudly.

Thus we can probably predict that complaining will be a usual way China and America communicate. If everybody speaks up and lets out the public voice that has been hiding behind the government officials, it will surely be conducive to promoting understanding and trust, and eliminating doubt between the two countries.