“China’s Our Enemy!” News to Me

 

I was walking by the Treasury Department the other day in Washington D.C. and as I passed a little girl with her parents, she exclaimed “China’s Our Enemy!”

She made this outburst in response to the Chinese and American flags adorning the light poles around the White House as Chinese President Hu Jintao will soon visit D.C.

I wanted to ask her (or her parents) that as a student of Chinese language, history, and culture does that make me an enemy of America? I didn’t comment, however, since I literally was speechless as if someone had just knocked the wind out of me.

Now I don’t have any idea who these people were or where they are from. Perhaps they could know someone who lost a job due to offshoring; I don’t know. But suppose that is the case, does that then give one the right to discriminate against an entire culture en masse? Furthermore, what is this little girl leaning in school? Isn’t the best way to defeat an ‘enemy’ is to gain knowledge about him?

However, China is not our enemy, the Chinese are not the Soviet ‘pinkos’ of the past or whatever boogeyman the fearful wish to portray it as. It disturbs me that many in our great nation choose to succumb to unfounded ethnic fears rather than take the initiative to learn about what seemingly threatens our sovereignty. Our appetite for spending money we don’t have has fueled Chinese growth and prosperity. It led to our housing market collapse but also lifted over 400 million people out of dire poverty. Now the dragon our greed unleashed has broken its shackles of past humiliation and desires more respect and room upon the world stage. Are we ready to grant Chinese the say in international affairs that it rightfully deserves with one seventh of the planet’s population?

What they don’t tell you on talk radio is that no matter how ‘threatening’ China may seem, its economy is still less than one half the size of ours and hundreds of millions remain impoverished. Nearly a billion suffer the malaise of grotesque pollution, acid rain, lack of adequate health care, not to mention trying to find a balance between past traditions and modernization; maintaining a Chinese identity under the pressures of economic liberalization. Authoritarianism and human rights abuses continue amongst outcry from the rest of the world. However, China has proven several times over in the past decade that it acknowledges these issues and is trying its best to solve them. Meanwhile, we’re still not sure if Global Warming is real or if people necessarily need health insurance.

Back to the little girl’s education. I remember in school they did a rotten job of conveying to children how to conceptualize quantities. I’d venture to guess that 98% of children don’t know the population of their hometown or the top ten largest cities in the United States. Well China has 1.4 billion people, 4.7 times more than the United States. 11.7 times more than Japan, 23 times more than the United Kingdom. Imagine what New York City would look like if it had 4.7 times more people, a population of 41 million within the Five Boroughs and 103 million in the metro area. That would make for a population density in N.Y.C. proper of over 110,000 people per square mile! Imagine that for a second and you’ll know what it’s like to live in Shanghai today. Now imagine Shanghai twenty years from now when China’s economy surpasses ours.

Imagine if California had 178 million people, Texas 117 million, Florida 84 million, Washington (state) 33 million. Do you think democracy could survive under that intense competition for resources? That’s modern-day China, and it only gets worse as the nation gains more wealth and demands more consumables. That’s why China is not our enemy but our partner out of necessity. We don’t have a choice between cooperation and stagnation with the Chinese, for the latter choice will certainly mean either the reversal of recent wealth creation or the end of humanity.

Our two nations must cooperate because the sheer size of our economies and populations means that mutual understanding not only benefits our own interests but the greater interest of the entire world. If we fight our fears, distrust, and cynicism, we can build a better global society with  the Chinese. It’s the only option, and I suppose people get nervous when they don’t have other options.

It’s a shame we don’t value education as much as our ‘enemies.’ Think a moment about how many people in the U.S. will learn Chinese compared to the number of Chinese learning English. Even in proportional terms the Chinese will have us beat. As the richest nation in the world, why can’t we do better?

Good luck, little girl, you’re going to need it.