Washington, Up Against the New Sputnik Moment

In America, it is known as the “Sputnik moment.” The year was 1957, and the Soviets had just launched their first satellite into space. They thus seemed to ensure their cosmic superiority over the rest of the world. The United States is not just slightly proud of their reaction at the time: It created NASA, dumped everything into its education system and conquered the moon. The United States regained a serene calmness in sitting once again on top of the world, a place that no one had the ability to challenge.

Now, will there be a new “Sputnik moment,” as Barack Obama has recently said? Americans are up against the unstoppable ascension of China, and they aren’t far from a daily panic similar to the one that triggered a Soviet power — most of which, as it happens, was largely imagined.

In reality, the situation is much more destructive: Every day, American consumers fill their shopping carts with products “Made in China.” They are racked by the vague guilt that they contribute, at their own supermarkets, to their great rival’s rising stockpile of ammunition. Then, as they fill out their tax-return forms, they have an equally vague notion that they must look elsewhere for the money that they balk at giving to the IRS. The government borrows money to guarantee their standard of living. China provides the freshly minted dollars, and America depends more and more on it.

Of course, this train of thought is even more frightening for Americans than it is satirical. Both China and the United States have had, and continue to have, much to gain from their overlapping relationship, with their economies interlocking to the point that some now call them “Chinamerica” (or “Chimerica”).

In Washington this week, the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, will certainly be able to confirm the enormous suspicion that surrounds this relationship. But his visit will also serve as a reminder of how dependent the two countries are on one another. So what if, instead of chasing a fantasy, the United States and China came to terms with a new “Sputnik moment” as allies, not as enemies?