Column 127

What Bush- Cheney got right with China

Barack Obama's victory presents to America a wonderful opportunity to redefine our engagement with the world's rising great powers.

Along those lines, it's worthwhile to remember what Bush-Cheney got right with China.

Read on at KnoxNews.
Read on at Scripps Howard.

Comments

[Brad B.]

Great line: ..not even with "rising China," whose military build-up specifically targets our ability to target their ability to target Taiwan's ability to defend itself.

[Lexington Green]

In the longer run, you are almost certainly right. If we look back a century, the Iraq war is our "Boer War". To the Brits that was an embarrassing, lengthy, unexpected, atttitional fiasco in the occupation phase, after a quick conventional victory, that had major financial and political costs. But the big story was rising Germany. The British, the hegemon of the day, failed to incorporate that new power into the world order without a world war. Bush and his team, whether on purpuse or by lucky guesswork, have set us on a course for the peaceful integration of China into the globalized economic order. Of course, all parties now face that low nuclear ceiling on conflict, and the hindsight to see what the derailed globalization of the twentieth century meant in terms of destruction.

Let's reconvene in twenty years and see if Bush and his crew get much credit for it.

[William R. Cumming]

It seems to me that a coherent China approach--political, economic, etc. was never adopted by Bush-Cheney. What is there to argue for their having any kind of long term vision on China? As you have stated in Blueprint for Action--Bush and Cheney should have bargained over Taiwan and at least gotten points. Now the Chinese themselves have agreed to postpone future decisions on status while the economic sinews grow tighter and tighter. Even the Taiwanese now realize that the Chinese leadership is more pragmatic than ideological--just wanting to keep their postions and statuture and wealth for posterity--in this case their own families. What are US plans should China undergo revolution in futuro? Or vice-versa?

[Gerry]

Do we see the fine hand of Papa Bush here? H. W. was U. S. Envoy to China before we switched our one-China policy from Taiwan to the PRC.

[Matt Osborne]

Is there a way to resolve the sovereignty issue? Can the Kuomingtang negotiate a "special political zone" status for Taiwan equivalent to the "special economic zones" China already allows? Because until there is some kind of path towards integration, I don't see how trade cooperation alone can douse this flashpoint.

[Bubba in Taipei]

Well-written article indeed. Bush/Cheney have done a good job in China relations and by all accounts are popular with the ruling class there. But I do think you underestimate the capacity for the Taiwan/China dynamic to change, especially on the Taiwan side of things.

Another positive accomplishment of Bush/Cheney has been relations with India, pulling them over to our side further and encouraging them to build links with Australia and Japan, and move away from Iran and Russia.

That said, the Iraq war remains the centerpiece of the administration, and is a blunder by any measure.

[Elmer Humes]

Delighted to again see your balance, Tom. Isn't it interesting that the two biggest Republican president disappointments, Nixon & G.W.Bush made strong US/China relations their greatest contribution.