China needs to reform its closed political system to allow for more democratic participation and civil liberties in order to be held accountable to its people as well as a responsible major global player, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday.
"Closed politics cannot be a permanent feature of Chinese society. It is simply not sustainable -- as economic growth continues, better off Chinese will want a greater say in their future, and pressure builds for political reform," Douglas Paal told an academic conference in Taipei.
Paal made the remarks in a speech to the annual Asia-Pacific Security Forum hosted by the Institute for National Policy Research, the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum CSIS and the Institute for Strategic and Developments Studies.
To accompany its rising economic power, "China needs a peaceful transition to make its government responsible and accountable to its people ? It should open government processes to the involvement of civil society and stop harassing journalists who point out problems," he said.
"China should also expand religious freedom and make real the guarantees of rights that exist on paper -- but not in practice," he said.
Paal's address to the conference marked his first public appearance in Taipei since he was allegedly harshly criticized in an internal US State Department document which highlighted serious shortcomings in Paal's leadership of AIT's Taipei office.
Paal said the US now is trying to look beyond the opening doors of China to encourage China to be a more responsible stakeholder in the international system which has helped its economic growth.
Pointing out problems ranging from rural poverty issues, rampant piracy and counterfeiting to the currency manipulation that has resulted in a US$162 billion trade deficit between China and the EU or Japan, Paal said China can't take its access to the global market for granted.
He said it is time for China to look at how it could be a responsible major global power.
"China needs to recognize how its actions are perceived by others. Uncertainties about how China will use its power will lead the US -- and others as well -- to hedge relations with China. Many countries hope China will pursue a `peaceful rise,' but none will bet their future on it," he said.
Paal encouraged the cooperation between China and the US to go from the "shallow roots" of cooperation based on the coincidence of interests to a "deep and lasting" relationship that is based on shared values and shared interests of democracy.
Commenting on Paal's remarks, Shelley Rigger, a US academic specializing in China-US relations yesterday said the speech reflected the revival of China critics in the US society nowadays.
Rigger said that criticism of China in the US has transformed from the offensive discourse in the beginning of US President Geroge W. Bush's first term -- in which the US used its leverage to "fix" China into something more congenial to US interests and values -- to one that is more defensive in order to prevent China from gaining the capacity to threaten the US.
She said such criticism took a break after the Sept. 11 attacks as politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, stopped criticizing the administration's foreign policy. However, the internal dynamics of the US society have shifted, due to Bush's declining popularity.
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