The Economist chimed in on US-Sino relations with its cover this week, presenting a nicely balanced look at how to proceed with a resurgent and somewhat reluctant China:
Rather than ganging up on China in an effort to “contain” it, the West would do better to get China to take up its share of the burden of global governance. Too often China wants the power due a global giant while shrugging off the responsibilities, saying that it is still a poor country. It must be encouraged to play its part—for instance, on climate change, on Iran and by allowing its currency to appreciate. As the world’s largest exporter, China’s own self-interest lies in a harmonious world order and robust trading system.
Maybe I should give up my hopes of ever getting another visa into the PRC, but I agree that China should be taking its new, and perhaps forced, role as global stakeholder more seriously—China is no longer some middling power with limited international influence, and its refusal to take up its responsibilities reflects an intense parochialism.
That said, I don’t think the Economist is capturing another potential outlook Chinese leadership could have. As much as China is a world power, I have no doubt that top PRC officials perceive their nation as an insurgent, an underdog. For the last hundred years, China has been the downtrodden poor man of Asia, a basket case ruled by an irrational and secretive CCP.
Today, I bet Hu Jintao sees the world at least somewhat through this lens, as a country on the brink, one that could regress to its long history of chaos and poverty at any moment. Priority one, then, is not maintaing a “harmonious world order,” but maintaing a harmonious Chinese order. Fix your home first, then turn your eyes to your neighbors. As long as the US, EU, and UN are willing to at large guarantee Asian and global security, China has little incentive to step up and sacrifice its resources to the cause of global stability.
Until the Chinese leadership is satisfied with its internal affairs (and with a per capita GDP about that of Angola’s, that may not be for some time), China will not want to pick up that mantle of leadership. That crown is a heavy one, and why burden the poor man with it, Mr. Hu might say.
Photo from Kathy Zhuang on flickr
