Washington and Bejing at Loggerheads

Washington and Beijing at Loggerheads

The United States wins a battle in its war of regional influence against China.

China has had difficulties getting over the Asiatic fever which overtook Barack Obama. They consider themselves affronted and humiliated by the United States in its own “backyard,” the Asia-Pacific region, which some would like to transform into the “Sino sphere.”

It’s true, the American president has not contented himself with a solemn declaration that America is “here to stay.” He let out a long flurry of concrete actions while announcing the creation of a marine base in Australia, thus ignoring the Chinese warnings to not put the disagreements over the South China Sea on the menu for the East Asian Summit in Bali.

And finally, at the Asia Pacific Economic Corporation summit, the Obama administration pushed for the formation of a vast transpacific free exchange zone, to which China is, for the time being, not invited to. Hillary Clinton finished “unloading the gun,” while surrendering in Burma, which is seen here as a desire to combat Burma’s Chinese sponsor.

“Cold War mentality”

After a moment of amazement, the Chinese reactions amplified. On Wednesday, uncharacteristically, the Chinese Minister of Defense officially criticized the announced stationing of 2,500 U.S. Marines in Australia. “Military alliances are the product of history, but we believe that reinforcing or expanding them results from a cold war mentality,” he explained, warning that this could destabilize the region. The day before, a People’s Liberation Army General went online in the People’s Daily columns. General Luo Yan takes up arms against this “positioning of pieces” and forces on the outskirts of China. There he sees a “fatal strategic error.” Chinese strategies already see the American presence in Afghanistan as a maneuver around China, finishing, in the West, the military action already present in the East, in Korea and in Japan.

By “coincidence,” the Chinese army has announced, for now, important naval maneuvers in the “west Pacific ocean.” At the same time, an announcement of the trial of experimental Chinese aircraft carriers was made from their position at sea. In Burma, the official press also sounds the charges. The daily newspaper Global Times warned on Wednesday that China will not allow its interests there to be “trampled on.” Washington has already attracted the best favors from the majority of countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.

In this war of regional influence, commentators from Hong Kong and even from mainland China estimate that the United States has won this new diplomatic battle. Even so, Professor Shen Dingli of the Center of American Studies in the University of Fudan, Shanghai said to Reuters, “This time, we have lost, but in 10 years’ time, the United States will lose. We can be more patient than an American administration.” Experts guess that beyond the outraged declarations, Beijing is not going to react urgently, both in order to not accentuate the feeling of affront, and because the Chinese are entering into an “electoral year,” themselves, with a change of leadership coming in 2012, which adapts badly to strong international turbulence. Professor Zhu Feng of the University of Beijing judges, however, that President Hu Jintao is “under remarkable pressure in foreign policy.”

Some suggest that the latest strategic arm wrestle helps the two countries, both by satisfying their mutual desires and by avoiding the worst – an excessive commercial war after a sanction from the American Congress over the issue of the yuan.