Don't demonize China

    Here's another brilliant column from Thomas P.M. Barnett.  There are many, many points to consider in the piece, but the one I'll highlight relates to my own recent experience.

Expecting China to suddenly turn loose Tibet or Xinjiang is far-fetched. We may not care for its policy of settling Han Chinese out west, but I can find you plenty of Lakota and Mexicans who still feel the same way about past American actions.

Don't hold your breath on the U.S. returning Texas or the two Dakotas anytime soon.

With Beijing, better to shine spotlights on religious freedom and environmental degradation, two issues where we'd find plenty of ordinary Chinese in our corner.

China's becoming a lot more religious, common when a country experiences a lot of positive economic change, and its grass-roots environmental movement is growing by leaps and bounds. By tapping into those growing popular sentiments, we give Beijing more palatable choices than dismembering the country.

    The Dalai Lama was here in Seattle last week, and so the Tibet issue is everywhere amongst my friends, and the demonization of China is in full swing.

    Now, I don't deny that the Chinese are doing some very unpleasant things in terms of Tibet, and in terms of manipulating the media around that.  I don't like it, I don't condone it, I think it's reprehensible.

    With that said, looking at China today only through the lens of Tibet is like looking at the United States only through the lens of New Orleans.  There's a lot more going on, mostly good, some bad, and we're talking about countries that each span a continent.  The economic connectivity that we drive, and the connections we make with the growing middle class in China, will, over time, get us many of the improvements in governmental transparency, human rights, and political freedoms that we seek.

    But it won't happen overnight, and it won't happen if the only issue we seem to care about is how they took over a neighboring territory 49 years ago (before many of you were born, I suspect), even if it's a territory that is the home of one of the most peaceful and spiritually advanced traditions in the history of the world.  I mean, sure, Absolut set off a little controversy showing how big Mexico would be if the United States hadn't invaded Texas, but at some point we all have to see a larger context for all of this, and take the good with the bad, and be realistic about the unbelievable good we can do for 1.3 billion people if we act as partners in China's inevitable rise this century, rather than a competitor or enemy.

    What do you think the United States looked like to the more developed nations in Europe at the turn of the 20th Century?  How did we behave?  How well were our laws enforced?  How much power did oligarchs have?  We so quickly forget our own history.

    On the subject of forgetting history, a friend yesterday told me that he had seen a very funny picture of a protester at a rally against China hosting the Olympics (taken from Andrew Sullivan's blog):



    Stuff like this doesn't make us look any smarter, now, does it?