The real China threat

Peaceful development my foot...

The world's free-market democracies appear indifferent to China's role as enabler to murderous regimes. So it is left to international civil society to challenge Beijing and teach China's leaders that there can be no path to peaceful development that does not lead to respect for human rights. That is the lesson to be taught by human rights groups that plan on branding the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing as the Genocide Olympics.

Boston Globe Editorials / Op-Ed: March 7, 2007 - After China's recent announcement of an 18 percent increase in its official military budget for 2007, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte requested that China be more transparent about its true levels of defense spending and its intentions. The coincidence of China's announcement and Negroponte's visit risks giving the impression that China is becoming the dangerous military adversary that ultra-conservatives have long foretold.

The reality is quite different. There are reasons to worry about China's expanding role on the world stage, but they have less to do with military power than with China's economic influence and the regime's disdain for human rights -- both at home and abroad.

To be sure, Chinese leaders remain as neurotic as ever about Taiwan. They complained to Negroponte about the Bush administration's plan to sell 400 missiles to Taiwan. He had to assure his hosts that the missile deal in no way alters America's commitment to a longstanding one-China policy.

Beyond their touchiness about Taiwan, Chinese leaders are also squabbling with neighbors about islands and undersea resources in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. But there is no hint these disputes over resources might become a cause for war with historical foes such as Vietnam or Japan.

A spokesman for the National People's Congress repeated a formulaic assurance Monday when he said, "China is committed to following the path of peaceful development." For his part, Negroponte drew a crucial distinction, saying, "It's not so much the budget and the increases as it is understanding these things through dialogue and contacts." This was a tactful way of saying that Washington's need for transparency is less about China's capabilities than it is about its strategic intentions.

Negroponte's poised reaction to China's military budget reflects an understanding that China long ago ceased being a revolutionary power. Few countries have a greater stake in preserving the current world order, rooted in a globalized economy with its free flows of goods, services, and capital.

The major threat from Beijing comes rather from its pursuit of energy resources, trade, and profits at the expense of human rights. China, as a preeminent investor in Sudan's oil reserves, has been financing that regime's genocidal crimes in Darfur. Beijing also acts as the principal ally of Burma's military dictatorship and as a ruthless overlord in Tibet.

The world's free-market democracies appear indifferent to China's role as enabler to murderous regimes. So it is left to international civil society to challenge Beijing and teach China's leaders that there can be no path to peaceful development that does not lead to respect for human rights. That is the lesson to be taught by human rights groups that plan on branding the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing as the Genocide Olympics.

Washington Post: China plans sharp rise in military spending