To China, It's America And Only America

For China, It’s All About America -- Michael Auslin, The Diplomat

After a while, an undertone creeps into discussions with Chinese counterparts on regional and global issues. Whether meeting with Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, academics and policy analysts, or the media, an American soon begins to sense that part of the conversation is missing. What’s absent is not boilerplate about values, opportunities, or common interests, but rather a sense of China’s broader set of relationships. Ultimately, as one European diplomat put it to me, when it comes to China’s foreign policy, it’s all about the United States. This monofocus on America tells us a great deal about China’s worldview, but it also reveals the degree to which Washington is hampered in forging a better working relationship with Beijing.

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My Comment: When I was living in Quanzhou, Fujian province in 1988 .... I (as well as most of the city) always enjoyed taking a walk in the city after supper (around 6:00 PM). It seemed that it was a custom that everyone followed everyday with the exception of Wednesday from 7:00 - 8:00 PM .... when the streets suddenly became deserted. Could not figure out why .... even my Chinese hosts wanted to be scarce at that time. I found out later that it was because of an American TV program that was being beamed from Taiwan which the people in Fujian were able to capture and watch on their TVs. That program was Dallas.

Yup .... an entire generation of Chinese were brought up with the belief that the people and characters portrayed in Dallas were representative of what is America .... and as much as I tried my hardest to say no .... Americans were not like that .... I almost always got "blank" stares. Perception has become their reality, not what America actually is. And since then .... that fascination (and focused) with all things American has not decreased one iota .... including how they handle their foreign policy.