Obama’s Offensive on China

The warning of possibly sending more U.S. troops to Asia, given by Barack Obama during talks with China’s President Hu Jintao, is just one example of Washington’s tougher policies toward Beijing. President Obama has made it clear — China must put more pressure on North Korea so that it reverts to pursuing a more balanced policy toward its southern neighbor. Otherwise, the United States will send additional U.S. troops to Asia, which of course will not please China. Even if these are just words, ultimatums are not common in diplomacy at the highest level — especially during a conversation between two leading superpowers.

Obama’s harsh words are proof that the United States doesn’t intend to implement submissive policies toward China, which describes several European countries afraid to criticize regimes in fear of losing out on lucrative contracts. Around the same time that Obama was announcing his warning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said publicly something that many European politicians don’t dare to think: China must respect fundamental values. In other words, it must respect human rights.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also didn’t waste time on diplomatic clichés, stating that China cannot count on favorable economic conditions until it eliminates trade and investment barriers from its market. The problem also lies in the yuan devaluation, which — according to the Americans — makes achieving an economic equilibrium difficult. Only after Washington’s expectations are met will the United States grant China’s requests, mainly regarding exports of technologically advanced products. Some representatives of the American administration wanted this war of nerves to go further and suspend the collaborative communication, in order to force China to surrender.

Both parties have chosen a strategy of firmness — of course within the limits of diplomacy. The United States keeps pressing and openly expressing its doubts about policies used by China, which doesn’t have the slightest intention of giving way. Despite a series of drastic failures in foreign policy, China hasn’t lost confidence and doesn’t want to give in to U.S. pressure. It is no coincidence that information on the new Chinese jet (J-20) turned up just before Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States.

It’s worth mentioning that the current U.S. attitude toward China is a major change in American politics, which still a little over a year ago was passive. This attack is useless on many fronts; during the U.S.-China summit virtually nothing was achieved. Although in the long term there’s no point counting on China to change its attitude toward North Korea, when it comes to economic issues it seems to be a bit different. The coming months will show whether this new strategy for settling these issues yields results for the Americans. The ball seems to be in China’s court, since the United States is still struggling with the effects of the economic crisis and probably won’t refrain from adopting a harsh tone as long as Beijing does not allow the yuan to appreciate more rapidly.