China has been pulled into the center ring of the U.S. Presidential campaign in recent weeks, with the candidates seeking to outdo each other on pledges to harden up on trade, currency, and security. In the Times today, Mark Landler charts Obama’s experience on the subject: the Administration’s initial hopes for a romance with China, the chilly honeymoon, and, ultimately, the disappointment—a four-year “journey that began with hope and accommodation but fell into disillusionment after Beijing started flexing its muscles on trade and military questions and proved to be a truculent partner on a variety of global issues.”
This will rankle some China-focussed members of the Administration, who have pushed back against the narrative that they began with idealistic ambitions and ended up with realpolitik. Nevertheless, that version of events has taken hold over time, and, more interesting, perhaps, is that the Chinese establishment sees it that way as well. On September 4th, the Global Times—a hard-line but mainstream voice of the state—captured that view in no uncertain terms:
Depending on where you sit, that verdict is either a victory or a frustration, but the point is that China clearly feels the change. And it is bracing for more tension ahead.
More surprising is that, for all of China’s frustration with the Obama Administration, it is even more chagrined by the turnaround in its relationship with Mitt Romney. In an unusually pointed English commentary, China’s official Xinhua news service last week called Romney “foolish” and hypocritical, declaring: “It is rather ironic that a considerable portion of this China-battering politician’s wealth was actually obtained by doing business with Chinese companies before he entered politics.”
That was in response to Romney’s pledge last Thursday to declare China a currency manipulator.
“I also want to make sure that if a nation cheats like China has cheated, we call them on the carpet and don’t let it continue,” he told a crowd in Virginia. He accused the China of undervaluing its currency, which makes its products artificially cheaper and, he said, “drives American manufacturers and American producers out of business and kills jobs.” Xinhua was not amused:
Much of this might be explained by hurt feelings. Quite simply, I can’t remember the last time an American politician has dropped more sharply in the Chinese estimation than Romney has over the course of this campaign. In fairness, he was set up to fulfill unfair expectations. According to Chinese political calculations, he was supposed to be their kind of guy: pro-business, Harvard-trained, Olympics-obsessed. If there was a word in Mandarin for clubbable, Chinese foreign-policy wonks would’ve used it. In the 2008 campaign, I noticed that the Chinese press was raving that he had demonstrated “brilliant management ability” in his leadership of the Salt Lake City Olympics. The Chinese had also been pleased by his association with Bain Capital, which had been energetic in trying to assist Chinese companies buy American technology firms.
But if you look at the last year of coverage in, say, the Global Times, it’s easy to track how the romance cooled. Last October, when the Romney campaign began road-testing its criticisms of Chinese trade and currency policy, the Chinese press was bewildered. “Is Romney only capable of saying slogans?” the Global Times asked. His criticisms only accelerated over the winter, but even in June, Chinese commentators preferred to chalk it up to campaign rhetoric. The Global Times pointed wistfully to old clips from eleven years ago in which Romney argued against preventing China from hosting the Olympic Games because of human rights, or welcoming Chinese investment when he was governor of Massachusetts. Perhaps, the Global Times wondered, the wily old bird was just playing a long game. “Is Romney’s toughness toward China just a scam? Western media believed it a temporary tactic by Romney to win the presidential election. His soft stance is only a matter of time.”
Next, the Global Times tried the silent treatment. On August 30th, two days after Romney received the formal nomination, it ran a story with the headline: “Romney and Obama: Whomever is Elected Does Not Matter.” According to the piece, Romney was not the boss of China. “Romney needs to be clear about who he is. Even if he wins and the Americans listen to his words, he would be naive to think that the Chinese will be obedient.”
By last Friday, the Chinese press had had enough. In its Dear-John dispatch to the Republican candidate, the state news service said Romney’s anti-China rhetoric would hasten a ruinous trade war and set back the effort for a global economic recovery. “It is advisable that politicians, including Romney, should abandon … short-sighted China-bashing tricks and adopt at least a little bit of statesmanship on China-U.S. ties.”
Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton.
