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Chinese belligerence must not be
accepted
By John Bolton
Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010, Page 8
For years, foreign policy optimists have predicted that
China¡¦s rise to superpower status would be peaceful and responsible, but recent
Chinese actions make this vision look increasingly naive. The administration of
US President Barack Obama must decide whether to respond to Beijing¡¦s hostility
or allow its aggressiveness to go unchecked.
China continues to modernize and expand its nuclear-capable delivery systems,
even as Obama urges Senate ratification of a treaty with Russia that would
further reduce US nuclear weapons and long-range conventional delivery systems.
Beijing operates under no restraints whatsoever in enhancing its nuclear and
ballistic missile options, while also developing new ¡§carrier killer¡¨ cruise
missiles.
On nuclear non-proliferation, China is even more uncooperative. As Washington
pushes for further economic sanctions against Iran, Beijing is distancing itself
from the effort and was never really serious about tough sanctions. If anything,
it is now likely to double down on its relationship with Iran, particularly with
regard to oil and natural gas, to help Tehran meet its domestic need for refined
petroleum products.
Updated US sanctions against North Korea also are not sitting well with the
Chinese. In many respects, the Obama administration has taken a tougher line
against Pyongyang than former US president George W. Bush¡¦s administration did.
On the other hand, Obama has not made it clear that the only stable long-term
solution to the problem of the North¡¦s nuclear program is the reunification of
the peninsula under a democratic government. This should be an urgent priority,
since North Korean leader Kim Jong-il¡¦s poor health brings that day of reckoning
ever nearer.
Nor has the president responded strongly enough to Chinese efforts to keep US
warships from transiting and exercising in the Yellow Sea. North Korea¡¦s
unresolved maritime border with South Korea there is a continuing source of
tension and Pyongyang has, with tacit Chinese support, repeatedly made threats
against US-South Korean naval exercises.
Washington must be clear in word and deed that we will sail in international
waters when and where we deem it advisable. US weakness on freedom of the seas
is particularly dangerous given Chinese naval behavior in the South China Sea,
buttressing Beijing¡¦s territorial claims to the Paracel and Spratly Islands. US
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rightly took a more confrontational
stance on this issue last month when she rejected China¡¦s position.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (·¨¼äêÁ) called her remarks an ¡§attack¡¨ and
said US involvement would ¡§only make matters worse and the resolution more
difficult.¡¨
Domestically, Beijing is also on the offensive, prompting even previously
submissive foreign investors to fight back. Google¡¦s refusal to capitulate to
Chinese interference continues, while both European and US business interests
have complained about increased discrimination against foreigners in China¡¦s
domestic markets. General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt accused
Beijing of ¡§hostility¡¨ to foreign corporations and there appear to be increasing
obstacles for lenders to recover on defaulted debts from Chinese firms.
China¡¦s long-awaited transition to a more democratic government isn¡¦t going
anywhere. Beiijing¡¦s repression of religious freedom continues and the
government is still flooding Tibet and Xinjiang with ethnic Han Chinese to
overwhelm the ¡§splittist¡¨ tendencies in those regions.
China¡¦s leaders cannot expect the US and other governments to remain passive for
long. ¡§Softly, softly¡¨ is hardly the right reaction to Beijing¡¦s new
belligerence, unless Obama is prepared to see it continue.
John Bolton is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise.
Institute.
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