Getting the US-China relationship right will “take a generation” through mutual understanding of young generations on both sides, US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman told a town hall meeting in Beijing yesterday.
The ambassador’s presentation was seen in Taipei via Web cast at an event co-hosted by the US-based National Committee on US-China Relations and the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei.
In his introduction, Huntsman said US President Barack Obama defined the relationship between the US and China as “the most important bilateral relationship in the world,” as it goes beyond simple bilateral issues and has an impact on all corners of the world.
Forty years ago, when then-US national security adviser Henry Kissinger made his breakthrough visit to China, followed by then-US president Richard Nixon’s visit in 1972 and again in 2001, China was “preparing to enter the world,” Huntsman said. “China is now on the world stage.”
Despite some progress being made, the US and China have a long way to go to work out major disagreements — which includes some of the biggest issues of our time, Huntsman said.
Huntsman said he had complete faith and confidence that the young generations on both sides would be able to understand each other to get the US-China relationships right.
“I can’t imagine the kinds of conversations that I have on college campuses today with young kids taking place 20, 30, 40 years ago,” he said.
Asked if the US government had any plans to pressure Beijing to release Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobao (劉曉波), who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, from prison and his wife, Liu Xia (劉霞), from house arrest, Huntsman was evasive.
That Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Prize was a very important gesture for freedom and democracy because he is a symbol of the democratic movement in China, he said.
“I have met his wife and we have [had] many conversations. What’s interesting is today’s environment. She has access to a computer and she has been sending out messages. People can read about it,” he said.
Huntsman said the award’s long-term impact on China was difficult to know, but he was confident that in a country with 400 million Internet users and tens of millions of bloggers, things would change.
Despite tight Web censorship, Huntsman noted that Chinese bloggers manage to share information online and debate politically sensitive issues, including Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel.
“Although blocked from time to time, messages still get through ... They’re out there pushing the envelope in ways that never would have been imagined in years past,” he said. “Now where this goes and what it all means in terms of further loosening up, I am not in a position to be able to say.”
“The important thing is that we stay engaged and keep our communication alive and well,” he said.
Huntsman said he was heartened by a recent speech by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) in which he spoke positively about expanding democratic rights and freedom of speech.
“There’s a dynamic of change that is occurring here,” Huntsman said in response to an online viewer’s question about whether US engagement with China should be scaled back because of Beijing’s slow pace of political reform.
Huntsman said he had observed a freer flow of information in China than in the past, as well as positive signals from top leaders such as Wen.
“It’s hard to know exactly where it goes or what it means to democracy as defined by Americans,” Huntsman said. “But in terms of the level of mobility, the flexibility, having a premier come out recently and talk about freedom and democracy in terms that I’ve never heard before ... Something is happening here that is quite interesting.”
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