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Townhall.com
Fear of a Red Planet
By David Harsanyi
Have you heard that Hollywood is remaking the '80s classic -- yes,
classic -- "Red Dawn"? Rather than Nicaraguan and Cuban forces invading
the heartland with their godless socialism, a Chinese incursion will be
the focus of the remake. And once again, a ragtag band of high-school
students will do what hundreds of billions in Pentagon spending
couldn't do: save Michigan from communism.
Doubtlessly, the remake will be entertaining and offer a far more
plausible plotline than the original -- seeing that the Chinese, well,
they have a proper army. Producers will almost certainly capitalize on
a growing alarmism regarding China's growth. Few issues, in fact, can
bring right and left together in this polarized world of ours better
than a shared knowledge that China is bad news.
Now, the American populace can typically be divided into two
categories: 1) Those who don't care one whit about foreign policy. 2)
Newspaper editors.
So before Chinese President Hu Jintao was here meeting with the
president, Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center took to the pages of
The Wall Street Journal and explained what we think about the topic.
Apparently, 47 percent of those he surveyed cited China as the world's
top economic power. (Only 31 percent properly identified it as the
U.S., which has an economy nearly three times the size.) Another Pew
survey from last year found that 47 percent of us consider China's
growth a "bad thing" for the United States. A new CNN poll found that
58 percent of us believe that China's "wealth and economic power" are a
threat to the U.S.
I'm certain our relationship with China is layered with international
complexity and fraught with danger. But why would we fear the aspects
of China's ascendancy -- its "wealth and economic power" -- that pose
the least threat to the United States? Unlike ideological clashes,
economic competition can be mutually beneficial. A country with real
economic wealth is typically free and doesn't look kindly on radical
behavior. Suicide bombers rarely drive top-of-the-line BMWs.
I often hear talk radio hosts and politicians condemn China's nefarious
role as the largest stakeholder in American debt. How is it China's
fault that Washington spends $1 trillion more than it takes in in
revenue? Substantial national debt is our concern, but if we're going
to find people to borrow from, having China vested in American success
seems like a good enough idea. (Unless China's dynamic economy is an
elaborate ruse to sink us in the end.)
Buy more of our Treasury bonds ... if you dare!
We can talk about trade imbalance, unfair marketplaces and currency
manipulation. These may be real problems.
We can also give in to isolationists and those who believe in closing
markets and ratcheting up tariffs and hurt our own economy. As The New
York Times' Nicholas Kristof recently pointed out (in a rather
pessimistic piece), "Chinese goods mostly compete with products from
Mexico, South Korea and other countries, and it is stealing jobs from
those countries more than from America." And if there's any country we
can hate more than China, it's Mexico.
We can talk about China's disgusting record on human rights. It can't
be ignored. But the best cure for illiberalism is probably "wealth and
economic power." How long can communist hard-liners thrive in a nation
that sees its economy grow by 10 percent a year?
Let's not forget, either, that China is still a place of deep poverty,
stressed infrastructure and political upheaval; it's struggling with
problems that dwarf our own. We may be overrating its influence.
I'm certainly not an expert on foreign policy (using "Red Dawn" as a
reference point probably gave that away), but all this hand-wringing
and fear seems a tad bit premature, if not irrational.
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