Breeze Perspectives: The dragon’s peaceful rise
Rapid rise of China raises eye-brows, shows need for restraint
By Jeff Genota, contributing writer
Posted on October 5, 2006

This August, House International Relations Committee chairman and Illinois congressman Henry Hyde evaluated current American attention toward Asia: “I fear that a future American generation may awaken from its Pacific slumber to find our influence entirely removed from the Asian mainland.” China’s growing importance was evident last week when the Chinese military successfully tested a state-of-the-art anti-satellite system designed to disable U.S. satellites in event of war. Combined with its increasing international profile, China’s strategy, image and relations with the world’s foremost superpower are in question. As a result, there is a need for restraint and rethinking of the Sino-American relationship on both sides.

In the past year, the Chinese dragon has been crisscrossing the globe in diplomatic dances designed to raise its international profile and to dispel negative perceptions of its growth. China has been cultivating closer economic and trade relations in the Asia-Pacific region with traditionally pro-American states such as Thailand, the Philippines and Australia. To feed its super-hot economy, it has ventured to Latin America, Africa and the Middle East to trade with resource-rich but firebrand states such as Venezuela and Iran. China has also stepped forward as the fourth-largest contributor of peacekeepers to the U.N. contingent enforcing the cease-fire in Lebanon and has repeatedly opposed sanctions on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Sudan over Darfur, to the chagrin of the United States and the West.

Beijing calls its growth a “peaceful rise” to counter the perceptions that it poses a threat. However, “peaceful rise” was the same name for the ascendancy of pre-World War I Germany with which conditions eventually led to the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914. With this in mind, China’s leaders have made clear that its path is not akin to Germany, Japan or the Soviet Union during their respective periods of awakening. China has also emphasized that it seeks “peace, development and cooperation with all countries of the world.” The United States, however, looks at China’s rise with a degree of alarm and suspicion, and the mixed signals that Washington sends in policy and rhetoric also produces a cycle of fear in Beijing.

Because of American attention to the Middle East and terrorism, the priority of China and East Asia has fallen out of place and is in need of re-evaluation. U.S. policy toward China has been largely incoherent and fraught with some misguided ideas such as a push for more democracy in light of the success of capitalism, an idea harmful to Chinese ears. China, on the other hand, should continue to prove its pledge to be a responsible power player, especially with military power. A historical cause of confrontations and even large-scale conflict has been misunderstandings between rivals. While neither China nor the United States wants to risk a confrontation over points of contention, reducing the possibilities for unilateral or mutual miscalculation is in the two nations’ best interest.

Beijing and Washington should boldly rethink their relationship similar to the 1972 Nixon-Mao overture that established bilateral diplomatic ties. Since then, the Sino-American relationship has changed dramatically but has retained its value and importance. There is no doubt that China and the United States mutually need each other for economic reasons, and states that trade together do not fight each other. The recent military test is analogous to a dragon spitting some its fires when it is fearful and defensive, but it should be a testament to the reality and outcomes of serious confrontations between the mighty eagle and the rising dragon. If we learned anything from the Cold War, we must not let our misjudgments distort reality and let cooler heads prevail.

Jeff Genota is a sophomore political science major.