Hu Isn't Who? Any Longer. Don't look back, Dubya, something is gaining on you--a very BIG something. To the great relief of America--if not the White House and all neo-cons--this giant is not a menace. The China I live, write and teach in wants to be and should be America's best friend and equal partner in stabilizing a chaotic world that lies between these two great nations on opposite sides from each other on this spinning rock called Earth. Just as the United States can be said to have defined the 20th Century, China will define the 21st Century--for good or for bad--it's a fact, and we have to get used to it. If we want not to diminish our defining influence--co-definers, if you will--then we need to ensure that the Chinese government and the Chinese people believe we want to be their friend and not their enemy--or in Bush-speak, "strategic competitor," which they interpret as an "unfriendly" term at the very best, and as an "enemy aggressor" term at far less than worst in their cultural perspective on such things. Apparently Australia, one of our most traditional and faithful allies though muck and shine have an accurate view of China's role in their future.
CANBERRA, Australia, Oct. 25 — The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, addressed Australia's Parliament on Friday, a privilege accorded to him just one day after President Bush, and a juxtaposition almost inconceivable even a year ago in a nation long fearful of China.
Mr. Hu officially laid out in his speech what has become obvious: Australia's natural resources, particularly oil and gas, are playing a critical role in fueling China's fast-growing economy.
But in his parliamentary appearance, Mr. Hu went beyond economics by painting China as an all-around global player that was reaching out for broad diplomatic and cultural relations, including an increase in the already tens of thousands of Chinese students attending Australian universities.
In contrast, Mr. Bush in his address on Thursday, dwelled on a narrow agenda of the campaign against terrorism, and his gratitude to Australia for sending troops to Iraq.
The biggest difference was in style, with an almost complete role reversal of what might be expected. The Chinese leader was gregarious; the American president, aloof.
Mr. Bush left after 21 hours in Australia, stuck to this sleepy capital, and was whisked around in motorcades on routes swept clear of ordinary people. He declined to hold a news conference, and was criticized in the usually pro-American press here for offering little beyond a pledge to complete the outline of a free trade agreement with Australia soon.
Mr. Hu is lingering for three days. He took the traditional outing for visiting dignitaries — a cruise on Sydney's splendid harbor. He met with Australian business executives at a working lunch, and, in an unusual move for a Chinese leader, held a news conference, albeit a fairly scripted affair.
"Bush came, Hu conquered," headlined the Financial Review, the conservative business newspaper.
To reinforce the Chinese leader's theme, the two sides signed a letter of intent for a $21 billion deal calling for the China National Offshore Oil Corporation to take an equity stake in an Australian natural gas field, and to buy the gas over a 25-year period. ...
In choosing to give Mr. Bush and Mr. Hu what amounted to symbolic parity, Mr. Howard was making a keen departure for Australian foreign policy, analysts here said.
Mr. Howard's mentor in politics, Prime Minister Robert Menzies, regularly won re-election in the 1950's and 1960's with campaigns based on the threat of Communist China and with campaign literature illustrated with bold red arrows descending on Australia from China in the north.
During a Labor government, Australia opened diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1973 but for years afterward, many Australians regarded China as Red China.
