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Visit marks attitude changeBy Chung-yue Chang (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-14 10:29 US President Barack Obama will pay a state visit to China Sunday through Wednesday, a critical stop on a trip across Asia. This major foreign trip for the president, coupled with a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nine months earlier, is heralded as a strategic shift in the attitude of American leadership toward Asia. Budding at the beginning, and implemented during the first year of his young presidency, the overture is lauded by watchers the world over. By culture America is Eurocentric. However, for the past 75 years the United States has titled culturally toward the Asia-Pacific region. The green holistic Asian "high touch" values provide a healthy balance to America's "hi-tech" heritage, nurtured in part by the Asian-Americans who have helped make the US a technological powerhouse. In this respect, Asia has been good to America.
Now Obama is taking the US to the next level by engaging Asia directly on hard issues such as climate change, security, politics and the world economy. This direct engagement with Asia has evolved naturally because of a number of factors, both remote and immediate, going back 30 years. Those factors include: the meltdown of the Cold War order; the formation of the European Union; the troubling unresolved terrorism that has racked the Middle East; wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the alarming global crises in climate change and the economy. The triggering factor, however, is the economic and political rise of developing countries in Asia - India and, especially, China. In partnering with China, Ambassador Jon Huntsman, Obama's Chinese-speaking representative in Beijing, repeated many times that China and America must "help each other, learn from each other and make progress together". For this "help-progress" partnership to be productive and equal, "learning from each other" is the key. Each side must learn from the other naturally, using the benchmark of one's own circumstances and situations. But learning also involves teaching. In teaching the other, one side must do so with sensitivity, respect and pragmatism. Free of myopia and a prejudicial ideological stance, the partnership can thrive. Overall, China has been learning from America for at least a century now. During the first half of the past century the Untied States helped establish educational institutions and hospitals in China, some of which are still operating. Philosopher John Dewey lectured extensively in old China for two years (1919 to 1921) on American pragmatism. For the first 30 years after 1949 New China had no contact with the US. After normalization of relations in 1979, the next 30 years saw an increased flow of Chinese coming to America to study; many came to teach as well. At different historical periods, China learned, and now continues to learn - in her own way - from the American experience. The US has learned from China as well. Today American students are studying at every major Chinese university on subjects beyond language and culture. American students are becoming a cultural icon in China. They often appear on Chinese television shows. In fact, there is a popular CCTV program featuring the daily happenings, often faux pas, of a fictional American student living with a Chinese family. More Americans live and work in China. To introduce Chinese language and culture to average Americans, China has established, since 2004, more than 40 Confucius Institutes at places such as the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland. Then there are the well-established research and teaching centers on Chinese studies at prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford and Princeton Universities. America does not lack China experts. Despite that academic expertise, America in general does not know China well enough. There are differences in attitude and values, and challenges on tough issues. Obama's visits to Shanghai and Beijing will certainly address some of those issues. The resolution of problems would help build mutual trust, which is indispensable for any partnership. Trust begins with genuine understanding. Chinese culture today is a complex, one-of-a-kind fusion of singularly unique ancient tradition with an acquired Western modernity. The West-based modernity alone facilitates China's understanding of the US. America's Western fixation creates challenges in understanding China's ancient culture and its ancient-modern cultural mix. Here are two examples of such challenges: First, there are areas in which some Americans misread ancient China in important ways. Take, for example, the influential 6th century BC Military Treatise by Sunzi (or Sun Tzu). This book is translated and known in the West as The Art of War, when its true meaning is actually The Art of Peace. Militarily, a state should be strong, but true peace is achieved primarily by winning the enemy's hearts and minds, not by military deterrence or occupation, which, respectively, is secondary and tertiary at best. The co-presence of a strong defensive military posture and pacifistic stance is part and parcel of China's cultural heritage. America must not misread this heritage from an inappropriate Machiavellian viewpoint. For this reason one understands why China today is opposed to colonialism and neocolonialism, and why China publicly announced not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. Second, Americans must understand that China, by fusing ancient wisdom with modern know-how, can govern, harmonize her people, make money, defend, design, construct and manage climate change. In healthcare, the complementary practice of ancient Chinese and modern Western medicines is a case in point. The two medicines are as different as day and night, yet they work well together. Patients benefit by the judicious administration of both, often at the same hospital. The world hopes that President Obama's China visit in 2009 will truly be historic. It may signal the beginning of something good. The world wishes President Obama well during his China visit, a hallmark event for America, for China and for the world. The author teaches philosophy in the United States
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