Newsweek reports that Hu Jintao and the Chi-com regime were less than thrilled with the reception Hu received in D.C. last week. The President apologized, but since, as the article points out, “I’m sorry” can be translated four different ways in Chinese, each with varying shades of meaning, it would be interesting to find out how their press reports the incident.
While I don’t see any point in intentionally angering (or worse, embarrassing) the commies, I think it’s a good sign that this visit seems to have been less business-as-usual than, well, usual. Although it doesn’t seem like much, the subtext of this visit looks like a step in the right direction. For once Hu is treated approximately like what he is, the head of state of one of the world’s most oppressive totalitarian regimes, rather than being regaled with amenities better even than some of our allies receive, which seems to be the usual modus operandi for these official visits.
At some point I would like to see our government committed to a coherent agenda of reform for China rather than a shortsighted policy designed to avoid jeopardizing our supply of cheap manufacturing. China will be the next prosperous and peaceful superpower only when their society has been fundamentally liberalized. Otherwise, burgeoning prosperity will act to encourage belligerence rather than peaceful coexistence as the people’s increased economic choices forces the regime to resort to increasingly austere means to retain power.
Currently China is neither a reliable economic partner nor a safe political ally, and unless this changes soon we can expect the events of the next century to unfold not much differently than those of the last one.
