Monday, November 5, 2012

"Do all Americans hate China?"

Over the last two weeks since the 2nd presidential debate, I have been asked by many skeptical Chinese people, "Do you like China? Really?". Due to the serious china-bashing that occurred during the debate, many Chinese people think that America's leaders want nothing but to see the demise of the Chinese economy and prevent them from continual growth because the US sees China as a threat. Of course, this is not exactly what Romney and Obama said during the debates, but this is how many Chinese people have interpreted it. The following article provides a great overview of the way many Chinese view the two candidates:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/09/china-on-romney-and-obama.html

For example, last week on a trip to a local convenience store, I was approached by an older Chinese man who wanted to know where I was from. As this happens quite often, I responded "America" without hesitation. Upon hearing this, the Chinese man asked "Why do your leaders hate us? Do you hate us?" Of course, I tried to reassure him that most Americans do not hate China. "Obviously I love China, that's why I'm here," I told him. I then tried to explain that a lot of the rhetoric in the debate about China is just that, rhetoric, and most likely will not be implemented into real policy (at least, I hope not). He defiantly responded, "Well, you don't know. You can't speak for them. You can only speak for yourself." After awhile, I gave up. This debate between the old Chinese man and I was also complicated by his heavy Beijing accent, which adds an R to the end of many words making them almost indistinguishable to me. Upon seeing my frustration at the seemingly endless discussion, the shop keeper reminded me, "He only wants to talk to you because you're pretty." "Oh good," I thought, "Of course a woman, especially a foreign woman, couldn't possibly have any real intelligence to share." I began backing out of the store and escaped the conversation by just smiling and laughing, usually a very effective method for communicating when you have no idea what the other person is saying.

Similar debates rose up again this week while waiting at the airport to fly back to the US for a short vacation (more updates on this later!), and on the airplane flying to Detroit. It's very disheartening to me to hear Chinese people voicing these kinds of opinions about Americans because of several reasons. Obviously personally, as I will be living in China for at least the next year, I don't want Chinese people to hate me. But more importantly, I wish the candidates, Romney and Obama, would remember that the world is watching their campaigns. Foreign governments are shaping their policies towards the US with this kind of rhetoric in mind.

Furthermore, I believe the root of the problem lies in the upsetting fact that this kind of China bashing is what a lot of Americans actually do want to hear. Many Americans are both angry and afraid of China because of their growing economy, when in reality they should feel neither of those emotions. Do we really want to bring by low-level manufacturing jobs that China has "stolen" from us? Is that what we want our American economy to be based on. No, American's economic growth lies in innovation and development of new ideas for the future. It does not need to be supported by factories and low-quality manufacturing that most Americans do not really want to do anyways (that's why many of our more low-paying, low-skill jobs- such as farm laborers- are filled by immigrants who come to the US). And secondly, Americans should realize that they do indeed benefit by China's low cost production. If the US were to label China as a "currency manipulator", which they may very well be but I won't go into this issue now, this would impose a tariff on all goods imported from China. This would NOT be good for anyone. Let's look at the recent tariff on Chinese tires that Obama tried out a few years ago- After imposing a tax on Chinese tires, US consumers paid an extra $1.2 billion, according to the Peterson Institute as cited by the NY Times. Then in retaliation, China taxed US imports on Chicken, which cost US poultry producers $1 billion in lost sales. All of this only saved 1,200 American tire jobs. Because of its obvious failure, the Obama administration let this tire tariff expire this September.

Ok, I've rambled on long enough. In conclusion, China is watching the US election closely, and its already had real impacts on the way Chinese view the US and Americans in general. But don't worry America, you've got me (and a bunch of other wonderful China-loving Americans) over here in China to remind the Chinese that Americans still love them! US Government, don't let us down.

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