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Home › Forums › Short Online Seminars › Contemporary China, Spring 2020 › Session #5 - March 3
Virgina Jackson.
cgaoREQUIRED
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5a. U.S.-China Relations
5b. Global China
OPTIONAL
Diana CoreySo many of these articles about the BRI mention something about the US and other countries' alleged intentions to get more involved in Africa and countries and ports included in the BRI in order to stop China from gaining a more powerful position in those areas. In the interview with Mr. Le, he talks about being in favor of similar initiatives by other countries as long as everyone is "working in concert" rather than working to undermine China's progress. The page with articles about China-Africa relations included headings about the Trump administration's dealings in Africa being an attempt to keep China from becoming more powerful than the US there. It is quite interesting how these questions seem to show a worldwide fear of China becoming too powerful (and using their power for -- not the greater good, presumably).
Aleida Rojas1. We had already discusses in previous sessions that China owns a lof of the debt of the U.S. This session says that China is actually in trouble for having acquired so much of the U.S debt. I wonder why China would put itself in that position, was it part of a trade deal?
2. South China Sea: "Trouble Waters", It is very intersting to know that even though The U.N. sided with the Philippines, China continues to ignore their ruling as they continue to claim territory on this area. The fact that the U.S.S. Bedfold passed through the Taiwan strait on July 2018, proves how dangerous the situation is in that region.
3. I was surprised to learn that China would rather spend its money stealing information from the U.S. than ivesting in their own technological advancement. The Fact that China called the U.S. "the biggest Hackers" says a lot about the unstable relations between these two nations. I had no idea that the U.S. had been hacking Huawei for quite some time. How can we accuse them of cyber attacks when we have done the same to them?
4. The tariff wars between the U.S. and China are not new, what I have not heard on the news is who was the biggest winner or the biggest loser in the current tariff war. I know that the U.S. was losing this war prior to the coronavirus scare, how did this afffect the tariff war?
Aleida Rojas"Neither carrots nor sticks have swayed China as predicted" The U.S. has tried to contain or control China's influence in Asia for many years. It is increble how the U.S. has underestimated China's power and drive to be the superpower in that region. The U.S. has tried many tactics to control China and all have failed. Now China has become a super power because of its wealth, but a super power because of its military as well. They have become so powerful that they dared to defy international law and they got away with it. China's president is so sure of himself and the power behind him, that he has led China in a way that challenges the U.S. authority in Asia. President Xi Jinping assures that "the Chinese Nation has gone from standing up, to becoming rich, to becoming strong"
I think that the only thing that can stop China is itself. As they poisoned their water, and their soil, China will be facing major obstacles in the near future.They will also become more aggressive as they try to claim more territory and more control over Asia's markets to deal with the lack of food and water at home. The U.S. must become more alert and continue to treat China as an ally, but they can only do that if they treat China with respect and they treat China as an equal. As Colin Powell said " China is not an enemy, and our challenge is to keep it that way"
Aleida Rojas"Neither carrots nor sticks have swayed China as predicted" The U.S. has tried to contain or control China's influence in Asia for many years. It is increble how the U.S. has underestimated China's power and drive to be the superpower in that region. The U.S. has tried many tactics to control China and all have failed. Now China has become a super power because of its wealth, but a super power because of its military as well. They have become so powerful that they dared to defy international law and they got away with it. China's president is so sure of himself and the power behind him, that he has led China in a way that challenges the U.S. authority in Asia. President Xi Jinping assures that "the Chinese Nation has gone from standing up, to becoming rich, to becoming strong"
I think that the only thing that can stop China is itself. As they poisoned their water, and their soil, China will be facing major obstacles in the near future.They will also become more aggressive as they try to claim more territory and more control over Asia's markets to deal with the lack of food and water at home. The U.S. must become more alert and continue to treat China as an ally, but they can only do that if they treat China with respect and they treat China as an equal. As Colin Powell said " China is not an enemy, and our challenge is to keep it that way"
Benjamin SchwartingWhile there is obvious debate about how to interpret China’s economic rise and change in foreign policies, I think there are two indisputable facts: 1) China has become far more involved on the international playing field, and 2) the US is frantically trying to figure out how to respond to that.
While it may be tempting to overanalyze the threat of China’s rising international presence, it has to be acknowledged that it has greatly disrupted the global trade infrastructure. I read an article recently about increased Chinese domination of global trade policy and how it has caused ripples of chaos through economies around the world. One source even seemed to suggest that many of the recent nationalist movements (such as the ones in the US, Brazil, and the UK) are knee-jerk reaction to the current trade policies being disrupted by China’s rise.
Will China replace the US? Will this lead to war? I have no clue. What I do tend to believe, however, is President Xi’s statements about Asian nations controlling Asia. I’m not sure if China is (currently) on a crash course toward domination of global markets and policies, or if President Xi has launched a quest to further expand communism to surrounding nations, but I do believe that they are absolutely solidifying their role as the dominant force in east/southeast Asia.
Benjamin SchwartingHi Aleida,
I agree with your assessment of the situation, but I want to add about new tech. As China's economy and military have strengthened and expanded, President Xi has been pouring tons of resources into devleloping technologies. The main focus has been in robotics, AI, telecommunications, and emerging medical procedures (such as gene editting).
Here's an awesome video: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/where-chinas-plan-to-be-a-global-tech-leader-collides-with-trumps-trade-war
Aleida RojasYou are right! While the U.S. has been invested in the Middle East, China has been advancing technologically and militarily. China has become in my opinion, a powerful nation and our country should continue to improve our relationship with them.
Benjamin SchwartingI agree, Diana. The overwhelming attitude (at least in the US) seems to have been one of fear: fear that China will wield its newfound economic/militaristic power to the detriment of global society. I think a hard, honest evaluation of US policy abroad should leave us all in question as to which country would serve as a better steward of global commerce. Just like the first lecture revealed about hacking accusations, the US government has been guilty of the very crimes they have accused China of.
Billie JohnsonStarting off with a quick thought: We discussed last week how is some ways China is having a difficult time keeping up with itself in terms of how quickly the country is modernizing. How might this complicate things even more should China get rooted in Africa? Or is this just a money grab? I did also find it interesting to read about the misunderstanding in regard to race relations. I have always heard that the Chinese were not open to diversity. It was nice to read about this and essentially dispel that rumor. Is this aggressive move into Africa in reaction to the fear of dissent in the country? Perhaps the government knows that it will continue to lose its stronghold, but with a more stable and solidified base of financial opportunities it can afford to release its grip. A while back I saw a headline about China and Africa, which makes perfect sense. A friend of mine is an investor, trader, and financial advisor who is regularly featured on the TD Ameritrade Network and she frequently talks about the incredible financial opportunities in Africa. I look forward to asking her about this. I am tired so forgive me for being brief here, but the main takeaway from this is that China is still trying to find balance with the many different moving parts. I was intrigued the most by the personal stories in the WSJ roll and China's relations with Africa and the vast opportunities that may be presented to that end. The tariffs and trade war between US and China appear to be cooling off but at this point it is hard to know who is winning this so-called war. I think with this virus the world has felt the impact of a slow down in the Chinese workforce. Could President Xi use that as leverage in future trade talks? Especially if Africa becomes the economic boon for China, the implications could be major and we can see a shift in the tug of war.
Kevin BaileyI talk a lot about Chinese relationships with the United States in my Comparative Politics course, so there was a lot of content from the lectures that I found to be useful. I found the material revolving around the South China Sea to be fascinating and the U.S. walking that tightrope with our relationship with China and Taiwan. The censorship topic is always a point of interest for the students and I want to use that Bloomberg article concerning Xi's wealth as an example of Chinese censorship.
The articles on the Chinese relationship with Africa were eye-opening. I hadn't done any reading on that topic, even though I teach about Nigeria. I didn't realize that China was the largest trade partner with Africa (I thought the U.S. was) and the role of China in the creation of African infrastructure. Oil is the largest export of Africa and thus it is predictable that the U.S. would be interested, but I had no idea how invested China was in the financial district in Africa. Also the role the Chinese play in energy, mining, and manufacturing. In order to cut down on shipping costs and increase profit margins, the Chinese have actually began to set up manufacturing firms in Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Wow, this was a lot of material on the relations with Africa and I plan on using some of the articles in my discussion with my Comparative class as we enter into our study of NIgeria.
Benjamin SchwartingIn years past, I have done a colonialism/neo-colonialism unit with my sophomores as we read Things Fall Apart. I think I would also like to have my kids take a closer look at China's efforts in the South China Sea, particularly in comparison to the United States' efforts in the Carribean. I think there have been a lot of parallels there, especially when looking at Teddy Roosevelt's "Big Stick" policies.
Kelly McKee-The Jeffery Bader article, ‘How Xi Jinping Sees the World..and Why,’ shares multiple lenses for interpreting Xi’s leadership role of China and how the nation interacts with the world. This article reaffirms Deng as being the most transformative past leader of the PRC as it states how Deng reconnected China with the world by joining organizations such as the United Nations, World Bank, IMF, NPT, IAEA, just to name a few. When Xi became the leader in 2012 his China was a completely different China than the one Deng inherited from Mao. Xi’s China can boast having the 2nd largest economy of the world and being the world’s largest trading country. However, Xi also adopted a host of domestic concerns, such as growing inequality, providing for an aging population, and being the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. His grasp on domestic control has been more authoritarian yet he continues to reach out globally to expand China’s economy and presence around the world. Is China perceived as being a threat to the global system? Is it a revisionist power? A regional hegemon? These perspectives offer potential views of understanding China today -however, students must also recognize how US-China diplomacy has shifted over the past 70 years. Identifying steps of normalizing US-China relations in the 1970’s and how these acts of diplomacy have completely transformed the world in which we live. The Foreign Affairs article shares more insight of US-China relations both past, present and future. It is inevitable that both countries will benefit from constructive engagement instead of demonizing one another as former Cold War enemies of the future.
-Video #2 shares China’s response to the 70th year anniversary of the end of WWII ‘V-Day Celebration’ in 2015 to remember the defeat of Japan and Germany. I was unaware of this parade and the extent of which China celebrates September 3rd as Victory Day, one day after the formal surrendering of the Japanese on September 2, 1945. Sharing images of the parade could serve as an entry point for unpacking the island dispute between China and Japan today (Senkaku and Diaoyu) especially since Shinzo Abe did not attend the celebration in Beijing. Was the real reason because of Chinese military aggression in the South China Sea?
-The US/China dispute of how US airline companies identify Taiwanese and Chinese cities on their website without reference to a country is very interesting. I never noticed this until viewing this week’s video. I just did a quick search on both United and American Airlines and noticed that United does not reference the country of China or Taiwan when searching a Chinese city or Taipei. However, American Airlines does acknowledge the country of China when searching Chinese cities. However, Taipei still has no country affiliation. Again, this could lend itself to another interesting lesson for students when teaching about China-Taiwan Relations.
Robert ParkerHi everyone, been quite sick this week, sorry for the short post today.
I have previously read the Foreign Affairs article from 2018, and I felt then that the economic changes in China could still lead to a more open society, contrary to the articles conclusion. I do understand that the state and Party are "doubling down" on their version of State Capitalism, but how long will that be able to sustain itself, and how will the population react to more limits being placed upon them when they have experiened some freedoms. I have been aware that many rich Chinese are leaving the country as a result of the Govenments limits on personal freedom and private property. Why not try to purchase real estate elsewhere and live a life free of oversight. Chinese birth tourism is on the rise, and the American commonwealth of Saipan has recently instituted some stricter policies toward this process. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-island-where-chinese-mothers-deliver-american-babies-1513852203 I am interested in the 2015 WSJ article, and if any of these predictions of a "Crack Up" still are applicable in 2020, or has the situation changed? As China is more heavily invested abroad with the BRI, will that have a negative impact in underdeveloped areas of China? Will the people there, in effect, say "why aren't you helping here first?" Can China continue to spend money on these overseas projects and still be able to take care of the social and environmental problems it is facing at home?
Gail Shaw-HawkinsThe relationship with China and African formed was one of need. China needed to invest without competition from the US and Africa needed someone to believe in its growth. I also had no idea that China was that invested in Africa. Howard French in discussions said how China was looking for a place to not only invest but to continue to grow that investment and no one thought of Africa. China’s behavior is fundamentally the same as that of the United States picking of territory and using it to the fullness.
Forbes magazine states that China wants everything from Africa: its strategic location, its oil, its rare earth metals, and its fish, leaving African nations indebted to Beijing. Which may become true!