China and America

"Natural” Friends

Since the mid-nineteenth century, when America and China became involved with each other, citizens of both nations have often seen each other as natural friends. For some reason, Americans (including this writer) have a fundamental liking for China, the Chinese, and things Chinese, and the feeling in China seems often – though not always - to be mutual.

Several streams have flowed into this river of good will. Though American ships did carry opium to China, American warships did not blast open the door to trade, as did those of Britain. Later in the century, although America did benefit from the “most favored nation” clauses in the “unequal treaties” forced upon China by Britain and France at the point of the bayonet, America never claimed, or took, any Chinese territory. On the contrary, America’s Secretary of State proclaimed an “Open Door Policy” towards China, disavowing the current “slicing up” of that enfeebled nation by European powers, Japan, and Russia.

Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th, missionaries, doctors, teachers, and philanthropic funding contributed to the image of Americans as generous, kind, and helpful – if not naïve. Chinese workers built much of the great Trans-Continental Railroad, and stayed behind to found little “Chinatowns”, especially on the West Coast. (Though relations were soured by Exclusion Acts which barred Chinese immigration, America’s use of indemnity money after the failed Boxer Rebellion for the education of bright Chinese students helped to restore good will.

Upon the conclusion of World War I (in which Chinese laborers had helped in France), China excepted to be rewarded by the return of Shandong Province from Germany. When Japan was given Shandong instead, nationalistic sentiment burst forth into violent protests. America helped to have the territory returned to China in 1922.

As Japan’s expansionist moves became clearer in the 1930s, leading to attacks upon China and then a full-scale invasion in 1937, formerly isolationist America provided indirect support for China by restricting exports to Japan, providing loans to China, and even tolerating a semi-official volunteer air corps, the “Flying Tigers” to resist the Japanese onslaught.

Indeed, these moves were used as part of the justification for Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor: Tokyo saw Washington as China’s ally, engaged in a deliberate, though veiled, resistance to her “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity sphere” (a.k.a. “empire”).

During World War II, America provided massive assistance to Nationalist “Free” China, in the form of huge loans, materiel, Army Air Force squadrons, and thousands of advisors. President Chiang Kai-shek was honored as an ally, and even invited to the Cairo Conference with Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. China was called one of the “Great Powers” and, in that capacity, was given a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council after the war. American leaders and public alike admired the Chinese for their heroic resistance to Japanese aggression, and were utterly charmed by American-educated Madame Chiang on her triumphal visit in 1943.

After the end of the war, strife between the Nationalist government under Chiang and Communist forces led by Mao Zedong resumed in earnest. The United States offered intermittent help, some of it quite substantial, but could not prevent a Communist victory in 1949. Thereafter, it supported the Nationalists, who had retreated to Taiwan, to the great consternation of the new rulers in Beijing.

Fast-forward to 1972 when, after years of Cold War hostility, President Richard Nixon made a trip to China and shook hands with the ailing Mao. Relations between the two countries, which had been greatly strained (see below), began to improve. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter recognized the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate government, and broke diplomatic relations with the nationalists on Taiwan.

Diminutive Deng Xiaoping took the nation by storm on his visit in 1979, even condescending to don a Texas cowboy hat. All of a sudden, recent enemies were friends again. Once more, Chinese sent their children to American universities, and their goods to American markets. Americans began to visit China; a trickle became a flood, as millions went to teach English, do business, or simply gape at the Great Wall and other ancient sites. Blossoming personal contacts revived the good feelings of previous years.

“Natural” Enemies

On the other hand, so much divides the two nations that voices can heard on both sides of the Pacific predicting an inevitable war.

Support for the Nationalists under China Kai-shek during the civil war gained lasting enmity towards America among many Chinese, particularly in the military. When North Korean forces invaded the South in 1950, the United States organized a United Nations force, and counter-attacked. When the (mostly American) U.N. troops approached the border of China, Mao Zedong sent 300,000 “volunteers” into the fray.

In the resulting conflict, China lost around 900,000 men (compared to 58,000 for the United States), but gained prestige as North Korea’s “protector” and successful opponent to American power. The war solidified the grip of the Communists upon China; made the U.S. and China into enemies; and resulted in a strong alliance between America and the Nationalists on Taiwan.

To keep Mao from invading Taiwan, President Truman sent the U.S. Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait (where it remained for thirty years, a constant reminder of past and potential conflict) and signed a Mutual Defense Treaty with Chiang’s government.

China supported North Vietnam in its invasion of South Vietnam, sending supplies and (as we now know) troops in another successful campaign against America’s presence and influence in East Asia.

Even after diplomatic relations were restored in 1978, tensions remained, and have even intensified at times. At first, a common antipathy towards the Soviet Union held them together, but the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. and the pre-eminence of America in the 1990s drew the “new” Russia and China back together as common foes of American “hegemony.”

When the U.S. and NATO attacked Serbia to aid the secession of Kosovo in 1999, China saw a dangerous precedent. What if the Muslims in one of its own restive western provinces decided to break away – would the U.S. lend assistance in such a move to break up the country? The NATO bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade launched angry Chinese into the streets in Beijing and elsewhere, urged on by a government that could not believe American protestations that the attack was an accident (Those familiar with the U.S. government bureaucracy’s propensity for getting things wrong accept the White House account!)

Other incidents and issues have clouded relations in recent years: The collision with, and resulting downing of, an American plane over international waters by a reckless Chinese fighter pilot was interpreted by the Chinese as an affront to their national sovereignty. China’s aid (food and fuel) to North Korea irks Americans who fear the nuclear capacity of that rogue nation. A large trade surplus in China’s favor is blamed by Washington on China’s refusal to allow the yuan to reach its real value.

China has forged close ties to Iran, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, and other virulently anti-American regimes. She has formed a strategic partnership, as we have seen. In her pursuit for the raw materials necessary for an exploding economy, China has sought to wrest access to oil and other essentials from American companies, often out-bidding them or offering large government-to-government aid.

Human rights remains a vexing point of contention between the two countries, with their vastly-different cultural backgrounds. Beijing resents what it considers American intrusion into domestic matters, and Washington is bound by law to cite nations which violate rights to speech, religion, assembly, and the press. China’s constant pressure on unregistered Christian churches ires Evangelicals, and even some secularists, in the U.S.

Accounts of torture; harvesting organs from condemned criminals for sale; suppression of dissent – all these make for a bad press in America.

China recruits students, researchers, and workers in high-tech industries to steal sensitive information and send it home. During the Clinton administration, there were Congressional hearings about the sale of nuclear and other military secrets to this potential adversary.

Harking back to the Cold War, the U.S. seeks strong military ties with Japan, China’s most-hated foe, and has talked of including Taiwan in a missile defense system . Ties with Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Singapore, and other countries South and East Asia convince the Chinese that America still seeks to “contain” China and prevent her from fulfilling her national destiny. Americans forget that China once ruled, or exercised suzerainty over, much of that part of the world, and considers it part of her legitimate sphere of influence. The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq angers China, which always insists upon national integrity: Chinese leaders ask, When will America decide to launch a pre-emptive strike on them?

The list goes on. In short, enough powder kegs are lying around, some with fuses already lit, to ignite a conflagration that would engulf much of Asia.

Potential for Peace

Still, no one (except some trigger-happy officers in the People’s Liberation Army, who have drawn up a battle plan that calls for a multi-faceted surprise attack on the U.S. and its interests) really wants war.

So, perhaps there is hope for peace after all. Wiser heads may prevail. Caution may win out over rage if something else comes along to trouble the waters. In particular, future leaders in Taiwan may restrain their tongues and dampen moves towards de facto – and even de jure – independence.

Indeed, much depends upon what happens in Taipei, not Washington or Beijing. Just as a single hothead in Sarajevo engulfed all of Europe in 1914, so the wrong step in Taiwan could spark a regional, and even an international, confrontation. May God preserve us from such a disaster.

In sum, the two countries need each other economically. People-to-people contacts have built a huge web of personal friendships. We have much to gain from normal relationships. Wars are costly and destructive. At present, things are going well for the Chinese, who have everything to gain from their continued growth, incorporation into the world economic system and a gradual wresting of power and influence from the United States would be less expensive and disruptive than armed conflict.

At the same time, America stands to gain from China’s gradual transition from a socialist to a capitalist economy, with accompanying increase of “space” and options for ordinary citizens.

Perhaps these “natural friends” will surmount obstacles and learn to live together peaceably in an increasingly multi-polar world.