The US has been more accommodating to Beijing under US President Barack Obama than his predecessors because Washington needs China more than China needs the US, an expert on China said.
Lin Chong-pin (林中斌), former Mainland Affairs Council vice chairman and a professor at Tamkang University’s Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said Obama’s more flexible attitude was reflected in his failure to mention human rights or freedom during his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) earlier this month.
While addressing students in Shanghai, Obama also failed to mention the Taiwan Relations Act, which regulates unofficial relations between the US and Taiwan and requires the US to sell defensive arms to Taiwan, Lin said.
“This shows that the United States wants more from China than vice versa,” he said, adding that the Obama-Hu meeting was a watershed in relations between the two countries.
A joint statement on the Obama-Hu meeting posted on the White House Web site, he said, included the word “cooperation” more than 40 times.
On issues ranging from Pakistan, North Korea, Iran’s nuclear weapon program and global warming, Washington needs assistance from China, but Beijing has nothing to ask from Washington, he said.
Tracing the evolution of the two countries’ strategic mindsets, Lin said Washington’s approach has gone from engagement to containment, engagement with containment and is now entering an era of “adjust and accommodate.”
This approach requires an adjustment on Washington’s part, with the belief that an emerging China is a positive force, Lin said.
This was why former US deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick used the term “stakeholder” to describe US-China relations, he said.
Faced with the strategic shifts between the US and China, Lin said that if Taiwan tilts toward Washington, it will be unfavorable to Taiwan’s economy, but if it tilts toward Beijing, it will be unfavorable to Taiwan’s security.
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