China's Choices

I just posted an article that was in the local S.F. newspaper about Jerry Yang urging Secretary Rice to get Wang Xianoning released from prison. As you might recall Yahoo was responsible for copping up his name to the Chinese cops. Yahoo is still smarting from that one, as they should, so here's old Jerry trying his best to make amends.

... I know he wouldn't go for the Olympic boycott bit, he still has to do business with China, but he still has a problem with what he did to the poor guy - all good, but he still can't come out and say boycott, be we can. How about tying the boycott issue to Wang's plight? The list is getting longer and longer - trade, environment, social justice, human rights, the list goes on and on, ahhhh, yes I forgot CRAP.

I don't know if you also read the spin and PR editorial that the spin makers are starting....?

Flexing muscles in the Year of the Rat?

Anne Wu

Friday, February 22, 2008

The Year of the Rat may prove to be a tough one for China's diplomacy as a result of the focus on the Olympic Games for political purpose. Borrowing wisdom from "Ratatouille," the cartoon movie of 2007 that features a behind-the-scenes hero rat chef, may help cool down a bit of international pressure on China to flex its muscles on international affairs.

"Ratatouille" tells the story of a talented rat cook (Remy) who hides in the hat of a restaurant's garbage boy and from that perch establishes a partnership with him to become a brilliant chef. Like Remy, China has helped cook up diplomatic achievements among many thorny issues facing the world, but often behind the scenes.

It was China who helped convince the Sudanese government that there is no hidden agenda behind the U.N. peacekeeping forces; it was China who facilitated two visits to Burma (which China knows as Myanmar) by Ibrahim Gambari, special envoy of the U.N. secretary general, after the crackdown late last year on the monks' demonstration; and it was China that brought the United States and North Korea together to sign an agreement on disabling Pyongyang's nuclear facilities. In each of these cases, China was not the "chef" who got the credit for presenting the pièce de resistance, but was the behind-the-scenes sous-chef who produced the delicious results.

Many believe that China should flex its diplomatic muscle by voting for coercive measures, such as sanctions on countries with problems, such as Iran. It remains to be seen whether sanctions are effective in making the world more secure. On the other hand, while relations with "problematic" countries have soured when the United States and some European nations insisted on carrying a big stick, it is wiser for China not to burn its bridges. If China had signed on to coercive diplomacy, countries such as Sudan, Burma and North Korea would not have listened, and there would have been no way for China to serve as a constructive messenger. China's power looks muscular, but it stands to lose those muscles once they are flexed.

For China, flexing its muscle amounts to interference into other countries' affairs, which is not always a good idea. This is shown by both ancient wisdom and contemporary fact.

China is not alone in upholding the principle of "non-interference." The spiritual leader Emmet Fox said, "Many well meaning people are constantly butting into their neighbors' lives without invitation. They pretend to themselves that their only desire is to help, but this is self-deception. It is really a desire to interfere." Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "None should attempt by force or trickery to make his belief prevail and thus impose his system on the unwilling."

Most recently, my Kenyan classmate from Harvard, who narrowly escaped that country's crisis, said that one of the lessons she learned is that "we should never point a finger at another country - it's so easy to fall into chaos within a day - all because of tribal differences."

Indeed, China's leverage originates more from its credibility in making friends with others than from its size or veto power in the U.N. Security Council. "No-finger-pointing" and "no-preaching'" styles actually increase China's influence. This is one reason why other similarly formidable powers do not possess the same leverage, and look to China to use its diplomatic clout.

Ironically, any sign of China's muscle-flexing makes other nations nervous. China's denial of a port call for a Kitty Hawk carrier group last November was considered by some to be "muscle-flexing," and thought to be a shift to more hawkish diplomacy.

Though perceivably a tit-for-tat reaction to the Pentagon's approval of missile sales to Taiwan, and President Bush's meeting with Dalai Lama, this incident was no more than a typical illustration of policy differences between the foreign ministry and the military in China. This fact should not blur the peaceful diplomacy that dominates China's foreign affairs.

In the Year of the Rat, it is better for China's diplomacy to remain peaceful and subtle. In this way, like the rat chef in the hat, China can continue to help prepare delicious ratatouille without scaring away the customers or other chefs.

Anne Wu is an associate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.