Wait, did you say wining AND dining??!!

According to the Associated Press, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dropped many pretenses and bluntly explained the birds, the bees, and the bombs with respect to the Sino-American relationship:

The U.S. risks falling behind China in the competition for global influence as Beijing woos leaders in the resource-rich Pacific, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday.

Her unusually strong comments before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are certain to anger the communist power, especially in light of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s recent high-profile visit to Washington, seen as boosting trust and trade between the world’s two largest economies….

[S]he told senators, "We are a competition for influence with China. Let’s put aside the humanitarian, do-good side of what we believe in. Let’s just talk straight realpolitik. We are in competition with China."

She noted a "huge energy find" in Papua New Guinea by U.S. company Exxon Mobil Corp., which has begun drilling for natural gas there. Clinton said China was jockeying for influence in the region and seeing how it could "come in behind us and come in under us."….

Clinton also said China had brought all the leaders of small Pacific nations to Beijing and "wined them and dined them."…

Charles Freeman, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the U.S. was "unquestionably" involved in a "soft power competition with China. But this isn’t a hard power, Cold War exercise." (emphasis added)

So this is how soft power works!  I can picture the scene……

[Setting:  a small banquet hall.  Violin music is playing in the background.  A sumptuous feast is on a table, as are two large, empty wine glasses.]  

CHINA:  Say, we sure would love to get exclusive drilling rights to your offshore oil discoveries. 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA:  I’m not sure I should even be here.  I mean, we’ve been in a long relationship with the United States.  So many memories….

CHINA:  Well, where is the United States right now?  I don’t see them paying as much attention to you as they should be.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA:  America is a little short on cash now.  Washington keeps saying that it will change, but… I’ve heard that song too many times before.  The USA keeps saying, "it’s not you, it’s me." (grimaces)

CHINA:  Say, have you tried the 1960 cheval blanc?  It really is heavenly.  (pours wine)

PAPUA NEW GUINEA:  Oh.  Oh my.  Well, who would be hurt by an exploratory agreement?  (lights dim)

OK, somewhat more seriously, Clinton’s comments need to be put into perspective:

Clinton railed against cuts sought by Republican to the U.S. foreign aid program….

America’s top diplomat accused China of supporting a dictatorial government in Fiji, where plans to reopen an office of the U.S. Agency for International Development would be shelved under a resolution passed last month by the Republican-led House. That measure proposes sharp cuts to foreign assistance, including a $21 million program to help Pacific islands vulnerable to rising sea levels, as part of efforts to rein in government spending….

She said foreign assistance was important on humanitarian and moral grounds, but also strategically essential for America’s global influence.

"I mean, if anybody thinks that our retreating on these issues is somehow going to be irrelevant to the maintenance of our leadership in a world where we are competing with China, where we are competing with Iran, that is a mistaken notion," Clinton said.

Clinton is correct in the short term.  If I was the foreign policy budget czar, I’d be transferring at least $100 billion from DoD to State on the premise that problem prevention is always more cost-effective than problem-solving. 

The "China is going to eat our lunch" meme is a popular one in Washington for domestic reasons — it’s a great argument to motivate policy.  The Obama administration is going to this well an awful lot, however.  My concern is that this rhetorical device doesn’t lead to any genuine policy change but does lead to blowback – i.e., it scares the crap out of everyone in DC.  That’s the worst of both worlds. 

What do you think?