Analyzing Tough Issues in China-U.S. Relations

April 16, 2006

Anchor: Hello everyone, welcome to our program, Hot Topic Discussion. I am Lin Yun. United States-China relations will be the center of the public's attention this week. Leader of Chinese communist regime, Hu Jintao, is visiting the U.S. and, today we invited Mr. Li Tianxiao, who earned his doctorate in political science from Columbia University. He will consider the tough issues in China-U.S. relations.

Anchor: Compared to last year's visit, the situation has changed significantly for Hu's visit this year. What do you think the main purpose is for Hu's visit to the U.S.?

Li: First, I think he mainly wants to "save face." Because of hurricane Katrina last September, he did not have a successful visit. During his visit, a "state visit," the Chinese regime demanded a state banquet and a twenty-one gun salute, which was not given to Hu Jintao. Because of this, Hu Jintao lost face in a major way.

During this visit, he will try to regain his face. But I noticed that this time, President Bush hasn't offered the full state visit treatment for Hu either. Because of this, he has already lost one point in saving face.

Anchor: His expectation is already gone from the very beginning?

Li: This is only the first point. The second point is that he actually wants to use the U.S. as an excuse to play the political game inside China.

Anchor: Can you elaborate on this?

Li: Yes. For some years now, the leaders of the Chinese communist regime have wanted to visit the U.S. They use the diplomatic prestige of such visits to keep political rivals in China, such as Jiang Zemin, under control. Hu Jintao's main purpose is to compete with Jiang Zemin, but there are also other issues. The rules of this world's game are still set by the United States. China is still following the United States.

The third point is that he wants to take advantage of the U.S. politically to reconcile the political crisis in China.

For example, 10 million people have quit the Communist Party. This is a fatal blow to the Chinese regime. Another blow to its authority is the global relay hunger strike initiated by attorney Gao Zhisheng, a famous human rights lawyer in China, which is still ongoing. Many ordinary people support Gao Zhisheng. This support is affecting high-ranking officials in the regime. The communist regime is already becoming divided. Some high-ranking officials actually support Gao Zhisheng.

Another issue is the escalating civilian unrest that has increased to 87,000 uprisings last year, much more than the 74,000 from the year before. This is very worrisome to leaders of the regime. What can they do under such circumstances? We know that foreign affairs are an extension of domestic affairs. Therefore, the regime must find the so-called "fire-extinguisher" of foreign affairs to dilute the impact of domestic problems facing the regime.

Anchor: To reinforce its ruling position, right?

Li: Right. The communist regime needs to find support for its legitimacy to rule. These three reasons are the major purpose for Hu's current visit.

Anchor: Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State, once said that the meeting between the U.S. and Chinese regime will touch on some tough issues. What are these tough issues?

Li: In my opinion, it can be summarized into four issues. One is an economic issue, mainly the trade deficit and exchange rate of China's currency.

The second is the nuclear weapon issues with Iran and North Korea. This is a conflict affecting global relations. This issue is something the U.S. cares greatly about.

The third issue is human rights and religion. Because U.S. government officials are elected by the people, they must represent the people. Therefore, the fact that Bush is the president today is not because he was born to be president or that he used violence or other means to become president. American people elected him one vote each. Therefore, human rights are highly cherished by Americans. But on this issue, the Chinese communist regime does not value human rights and has no respect for human life. This is a fundamental conflict.

The fourth issue is Taiwan. This is an issue that the Chinese communist regime is very concerned about. I don't think the U.S. will treat it as an important issue during their meeting.

Anchor: So you just mentioned four issues. Which one of them do you think is the greatest issue?

Li: If we can see through these issues, not on the surface, but at the core, I think the issues of human rights and religious freedom are the major issues. These are upheld as the founding principles and the universal tenets of the U.S. and is the foremost concern.

Let's analyze it further. Take the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar and RMB for example. Looking from the surface, in order to solve the problem of the U.S. trade deficit with China, the RMB needs to appreciate. However, an in-depth analysis would reveal that China is actually exploiting the exchange rate as a means to control China's economy.

In other words, if the Chinese communist regime refuses to change its political system at a fundamental level, it is almost impossible to solve the issue of adjusting the exchange rate. During the National Congress meeting this year, Wen Jiabao mentioned that the RMB may have some flexibility; however, the RMB would not appreciate greatly.

Anchor: What did he mean by that?

Li: He meant to say that the government would not adjust the RMB's exchange rate to any significant extent. In other words, the Chinese communist regime exploits the issue of the RMB exchange rate as a way of control. The U.S. considers the RMB exchange rate a key issue. The Chinese government views it as a lever to counteract the U.S.

However, it is pivotal for the Chinese regime to preserve it as an everlasting issue and use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the U.S. Whenever the U.S. demands an adjustment, the Chinese regime will make a counter demand. So, if you want to adjust the RMB exchange rate freely in a democratic world trade order, then the whole political system of China needs to change. On the issue of nuclear weapons, be it North Korea or Iran, the hidden source of control behind the scenes is the Chinese communist regime.

In January, the U.S. State Department published a very long report on how China exports missile technology, and even nuclear technology to Pakistan, Iran and North Korea. It was a very detailed report, showing how China exports the technology to Pakistan and then they transfer it to Iran, and next the technology is transferred from Iran to North Korea. It is a very complicated shell game.

Anchor: Is that to say, both Iran and North Korea acquired their nuclear weapons from China?

Li: As a matter of fact, all the nuclear technology is from China. Pakistan received their nuclear technology and training from China.

Anchor: Why did you say the issue of nuclear weapons is interrelated with human rights issues?

Li: Think about it. The Chinese communist regime is a suppressive regime that tramples even the most basic human rights in China. In reality, military threat is a natural manifestation as the Chinese communist regime extends its suppressive policies to other countries. That is to say that the military threat in the international arena is an extension of the atrocities and violence inside China.

An example of this are the recent shootings in Shanwei in Canton Province and the suppression of the June 4 Student Democratic Movement in 1989. As China grows stronger economically and militarily, the Chinese communist regime is bound to extend its violence onto the international stage because it doesn't have any principles and does not have any respect for human life.

We all know that weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear weapons and missiles, will only be used by those who do not care about human lives. So there are very strict regulations for such technology in international covenants. However, China simply exports such technology to Pakistan secretly, and Pakistan then transfers it to other countries. This is extremely irresponsible. The U.S. has raised this issue many times when talking with China.

Moreover, in terms of Israel and other countries exporting weapons to China, the U.S. attempts to restrict these exports, to prevent the Chinese communist regime, a totalitarian regime, from strengthening its military power, and posing a threat to international peace. That is the second issue I brought up at the beginning. Such restrictions by the U.S. are based on the fact that the Chinese communist regime is a totalitarian regime and respects nothing.

Now let's talk about the third issue, the human rights and religious freedom issue. Undoubtedly we find it to be an unavoidable issue facing the communist dictators.

Let's look at the Taiwan issue. The Chinese communist regime believes Taiwan's people are unable to make decisions for themselves regarding independence or returning to the control of the Chinese communist regime. In other words, it's a situation where the people make the decisions for the government or the government makes the decisions for the people. It's just such a key issue.

Anchor: In your opinion, what is the greatest difference and obstacle on the human rights issue between the U.S. and China?

Li: I think the greatest difference is that the U.S. holds the view that all its government organizations and public officials are elected by its people and responsible to the people. Once elected, the government cannot hold power indefinitely. But in China it is completely the opposite.

The communist regime seized power using violence in 1949 and threw away all the promises it had made such as using general elections. The regime continues its forced occupation of China to this day and has never stopped resorting to violence to consolidate its political power. For example, 80 million deaths were the price paid for maintaining its power at any cost.

Under such circumstances, there is a fundamental conflict between the two countries; one regards people's rights, and the other disregards people's lives.

From many perspectives, you can see the differences in the human rights issue. Just to give a simple example. Every time the World Health Organization conducts an investigation in China in order to verify certain situations, the communist regime will deliberately make things difficult for them. Why? Because the WHO values human life, just like the ancient Greeks, who used to carry out the duties of healing the wounded and rescuing the dying. To the WHO, the value of human life is most important.

Yet with the communist regime, the value of human life is the least important. Hence it is always playing hide and seek with the WHO. It is the same crux when it comes to how it deals with the U.S. Currently the communist regime uses hostage diplomacy to counteract human rights diplomacy from the U.S. The regime will arrest several dissidents, and later release one or two to placate the U.S. and obtain what it wants from the West when it comes to situations such as Hu Jintao's U.S. "state" visit. Those dissidents will be arrested again when Hu returns to China.

In other words, the regime has never planned to resolve China's human rights at the root. It concedes on human rights issues temporarily in order to gain economic interests or some other benefits. The two parties have totally different views about the issue.

Anchor: The persecution of Falun Gong in China is also the most outstanding human rights issue today. Recently, Falun Gong practitioners appealed to the Bush administration to bring up the persecution with Hu directly during his visit. What is your view about this?

Li: I think Falun Gong is the most important issue among all human rights issues today because of the extent and the scope of the persecution. Falun Gong is the focal point of the human rights issue in China today. Taiwan, Tibet, or other issues are not as serious as the persecution of Falun Gong.

I believe the Bush administration should take the appeals made by Falun Gong seriously. He should make it the most important issue. But in the past several meetings between top level U.S. and China officials, this has never been listed as the most important issue. I feel now it is the time to do so.

I think that President Bush should be highly alert to the persecution that has recently been uncovered, which is even more severe than the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. It is the most serious issue that has ever happened in history. It is a genocide that includes harvesting human organs while the Falun Gong practitioners are still alive.

Anchor: Recently there have been scholars writing articles that look back at the U.S. and German diplomacy during the Nazi period. What was the situation like during that time?

Li: In 1942, U.S. President Roosevelt had received reports from many sources. He already knew about the genocide of the Jewish race in Nazi Germany's concentration camps. One to two million had already been killed, but Roosevelt put his emphasis on how to finish Nazi German from the military perspective.

So he did not take effective measures to save the Jewish people which resulted in millions of Jewish people being murdered. When the war was over, many scholars conducted research on this issue and found that the tragedy could have been avoided. If President Roosevelt had taken appropriate action, it was very possible that more Jewish people's lives could have been saved .

Anchor: We will continue this topic in our next program, Thanks for viewing our program, goodbye.

(Transcript of the show "Hot Topic Discussion" is available on the New Tang Dynasty TV station.)