Ralph Winnie Jr., Contributing Editor's Article on Hu Jintao's Last Speech

http://www.divshare.com/download/18587695-40e


In his recent—and final address while visiting Washington—to American business leaders and members of the U.S.-China Business Council, Chinese President Hu Jintao focused on how to take U.S.-China relations into the next century by emphasizing a collaborative international partnership between the two countries. This partnership would be based on mutual respect and trust in an effort to promote “world peace and stability and reforming the international system.”


Hu’s speech encouraged China and the United States to work in close alignment on many global issues including climate change, energy efficiency, and trade. A key component of Hu’s remarks focused on the relationship between the American and Chinese people. Since China and the United States are two different cultures with divergent historical perspectives, Hu believes that there will be disagreements from time to time. However, Hu stressed that “we should view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic and long term perspective and with a sense of responsibility to history and to the future. We should prevent our relations from being affected or held back by any individual incident at any particular time.”


President Hu further addressed the notion that while the chaos and uncertainty engendered by the international financial crisis has gradually subsided and the world economy is starting to improve, there still exist many problematic areas and challenges to long term economic growth. Hu stressed that it is imperative to “adopt a more holistic approach to development and attach greater importance to ensuring and improving people’s well-being and promoting social equity and justice.” Hu further indicated that China has taken the lead in promoting various policy objectives to ensure long term “economic and social development in the coming five years”. A key component of Hu’s remarks focused on the relationship between the Chinese and the American people. Hu urged that concerted efforts need to be made to further cultural exchanges between Chinese and American youth since he believes that young people are the key to the future of U.S.-China relations.


Hu also addressed the need to improve U.S.-China relations through the use of increased military cooperation, emphasizing that China stands for “peaceful settlement of international disputes on hot spot issues and follows a national defense policy that is defensive in nature” Hu also believes that there should be more co-operation in the areas of space exploration and agriculture.


The end result of Hu’s visit to the United States was that President Obama and Hu both highlighted the growing potential for cooperation and mutual economic benefit resulting from a close bilateral relationship between the United States and China. While President Hu got a “high-profile welcome”, which was well-received back in China, the United States received a commitment in return from Hu regarding roughly 45 billion in Chinese trade and investment.


China also agreed to stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights and indicated that it would relax its indigenous innovation policies. These policies have been a source of strong friction between the two countries since it has been alleged that these policies hurt U.S. companies that are competing for Chinese government contracts.


There were encouraging signs of progress on U.S. - China relations as China has promised to cooperate on issues such as climate change, energy and the environment. Hu also addressed the issue of North Korea and China’s concerns over its nuclear enrichment facility and the potential for instability in the region. However, there appeared to be no consensus on the issue of revaluing China’s currency, which it has been argued harms American business.


Finally, the summit created an opportunity to help establish a close personal relationship between Obama and Hu. The key now is how Hu’s promises and commitments will be carried out as language is always subject to interpretation on both sides. There is strong belief among many business leaders that the U.S.-China relationship is based on issues that need to be worked through on a daily basis. The perception is that this relationship is no longer only between two governments, but domestic politics in China and the United States may eventually shape the future of U.S.-China relations on issues such as currency and climate change, rather than on presidential photo ops and summits.


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