What I told Al Jazeera About China

I did a short interview with Al Jazeera‘s station in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, focused primarily on Secretary of Defense Gates’ visit to China. For those of you who didn’t catch it (which I assume is just about everyone), I thought I’d pass along what I said. 

They asked me three questions. Here’s what they asked, and more-or-less what I replied.

1. Is there a new Cold War between the United and China?
In my opinion, no. There is growing concern about the relationship in both countries, and I think there is likely to be a rising security competition between the two, especially in Asia. But it’s a far cry from the Cold War struggle between the United States and Soviet Union. That was really a battle to the death, where both states actively wanted to bring the other down. Nothing like that is occurring between the United States and China these days. The Cold War was also an intense ideological competition, where each side saw the other’s political system as not merely different, but as the embodiment of evil. There are some differences in values between the United States and China, but it’s not at nearly the same level as the Cold War. Lastly, the United States and USSR did not interact very much: trade and investment were quite low and there wasn’t a lot of personal or cultural exchange between the two states. Again, the situation with China and the United States today is very different: there is a lot of trade and investments, thousands of students going back and forth every year, and and fairly high degree of elite engagement too.  So while there is an emerging rivalry that I expect to become more intense, it isn’t what I’d call a "Cold War."

2. Is President Obama’s Asia policy a success?
On balance, yes. Despite having allowed itself to get distracted by events elsewhere, I think the administration has done a fairly good job. President Obama’s trip to Asia last year was quite successful. The security partnership with India is deepening, and the United States has managed relations with traditional allies such as Japan well. It has backed South Korea effectively in its delicate relationship with North Korea, and restored closer ties with Indonesia. Relations with Singapore are strong, and Secretary of Defense Gates and Secretary of State Clinton have made it clear that the United States intends to remain closely engaged in Asia for many years to come.   Overall, they’ve done much better in East Asia than they have in Central Asia (Afghanistant/Pakistan) or the Middle East.

3. What are China’s aims?
China’s objectives are not really that hard to understand. First, they want to continue to  grow economically, because doing so is critical to the welfare of the Chinese people and to the stability and legitimacy of the government. Second, like any other country, China wants to maximize its security. It doesn’t want to be vulnerable to events elsewhere, or to pressure from other major powers. This means it wants reliable access to raw materials, to energy, and to the world markets on which its prosperity increasingly depends. Over the long term, that means it would like to reduce the American role in Asia, because its leaders will feel they are safer if there isn’t any major military adversary with a strong position in Asia. Americans wouldn’t be happy is some world power had an array of alliances in the Western hemisphere; by the same logic, Beijing cannot be delighted by America’s close ties with many Asian countries (not to mention Taiwan). This view isn’t a sign of innate Chinese expansionism or aggressiveness; for a realist, it’s how any great power would view this situation. Whether Beijing will achieve its various aims, of course, is another matter.

Postscript: I’m off to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), so my next post will be from there.