Sino-U.S. Relations, Chop Suey Style
Chop Suey is an Americanized Chinese dish that cannot be found in China. America has to come up with a new political chop suey style recipe for its relationship with China. Hopefully, Presidents Obama and Hu will during Obama’s upcoming trip to China.
America must wake up to reality. The finance, banking, insurance and real estate sectors together rose to represent more than a fifth of U.S. gross domestic product, while once mighty American manufacturing contributed less than 13 percent. Millions in China had work and Americans’ purchasing power was artificially boosted as they bought cheap Chinese-made goods and ran up more debt.
America may be waking up. The U.S. trade deficit shrank 28.7 percent in November 2008, the biggest contraction in 12 years, as weak consumer demand and plummeting oil prices caused a record drop in imports, according to the Commerce Department.
A treaty formalizing biannual meetings between the leaders of the two countries is long overdue. Any treaty with China requires a two-thirds vote by the U.S. Senate, a potential hurdle with Democrats retaining their overwhelming majority in both houses. Thirty years after diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, there is still an overwhelming lack of trust in China by the American Congress.
Hopefully, Congress will listen to an American public that favors co-operation and engagement with China. A poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in the summer of 2008 showed that 64 percent of Americans favor “friendly cooperation and engagement” as the appropriate response to China’s rise. America and China are interlocally connected and dependent on each other. The sooner America embraces this reality, the quicker the Sino-U.S. relationship will blossom into a pragmatic and constructive one that is mutually beneficial and rewarding.
America cannot afford to risk a trade war with China while it is in the economic danger zone just because Congress yields to powerful lobbyists from the producers and manufacturers association, labor unions and business. U.S. business and labor groups are pushing lawmakers to take a harder line with China. Not when America is trying to spend its way out of a recession with Chinese financing. America needs more than $2 billion a day just to stay afloat. It’s not smart to bite the hand that feeds America. Political chop suey is a much more pragmatic solution.
America must wake up to reality. The finance, banking, insurance and real estate sectors together rose to represent more than a fifth of U.S. gross domestic product, while once mighty American manufacturing contributed less than 13 percent. Millions in China had work and Americans’ purchasing power was artificially boosted as they bought cheap Chinese-made goods and ran up more debt.
America may be waking up. The U.S. trade deficit shrank 28.7 percent in November 2008, the biggest contraction in 12 years, as weak consumer demand and plummeting oil prices caused a record drop in imports, according to the Commerce Department.
A treaty formalizing biannual meetings between the leaders of the two countries is long overdue. Any treaty with China requires a two-thirds vote by the U.S. Senate, a potential hurdle with Democrats retaining their overwhelming majority in both houses. Thirty years after diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, there is still an overwhelming lack of trust in China by the American Congress.
Hopefully, Congress will listen to an American public that favors co-operation and engagement with China. A poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in the summer of 2008 showed that 64 percent of Americans favor “friendly cooperation and engagement” as the appropriate response to China’s rise. America and China are interlocally connected and dependent on each other. The sooner America embraces this reality, the quicker the Sino-U.S. relationship will blossom into a pragmatic and constructive one that is mutually beneficial and rewarding.
America cannot afford to risk a trade war with China while it is in the economic danger zone just because Congress yields to powerful lobbyists from the producers and manufacturers association, labor unions and business. U.S. business and labor groups are pushing lawmakers to take a harder line with China. Not when America is trying to spend its way out of a recession with Chinese financing. America needs more than $2 billion a day just to stay afloat. It’s not smart to bite the hand that feeds America. Political chop suey is a much more pragmatic solution.
posted by Peter de Krassel's Custom Maid Politics at 10:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home