Page 28 - 2020 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
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0 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
cloistered economy. But after years of false starts, its decades. The condition of the relationship between
leadership had become determined to join the WTO, Beijing and Washington was and still is pivotal to
the club of nations that sets the ground rules for the nature of the global order. Competition would
international trade. This was no small commitment— herald a revival of great power rivalries, a return
gaining membership would require China to strike to a world of balancing, hedging and competing
individual deals with the group’s 135 members to alliances. Co-operation paved the way for an
ease tariffs and open itself to foreign companies. overhaul of the existing multilateral system to
In the months immediately after Congress voted accommodate China and other rising powers. The
to normalize trade with China, dozens of US geopolitical case for engagement was reinforced
corporations announced that they were moving by the economics. The US is China’s market place;
manufacturing overseas. And once China officially China was America’s largest creditor. There is no
joined in the WTO in 2001, the country rapidly began clearer expression of the interdependence that
transforming into an export behemoth as foreign comes with globalization (Stephens).
investment and factory work flooded into the
country—its surplus with United States alone rose “Economic freedom creates habits of liberty,”
from US$83 billion in 2001 to almost $300 billion in Bush said during his first presidential campaign.
2011 (Weissmann). “Trade freely with China, and time is on our side.”
In a September 2005 speech, Deputy Secretary
George W. Bush of State Robert B. Zoellick initiates a strategic
dialogue with China. Recognizing Beijing as an
By the time George W. Bush became president, emerging power, he calls on China to serve as a
the Chinese still had plenty of differences with “responsible stakeholder” and use its influence
the US, and vice versa. But Bush is credited with to draw nations such as Sudan, North Korea, and
delivering the thing that matters most in Beijing: Iran into the international system. That same
an essentially stable process of engagement. year, North Korea walks away from Six-Party Talks
It might have been otherwise. Before the 2000 aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
election Bush decried the so-called strategic After North Korea conducts its first nuclear test in
partnership with Beijing promoted by the Clinton October 2006, China serves as a mediator to bring
administration. Instead, he would treat China Pyongyang back to the negotiating table (Brands).
as a “competitor”. A collision between a Chinese
interceptor and a US reconnaissance aircraft over Barack Obama
the island of Hainan in the early months of the
Bush presidency looked likely to confirm him on On rare occasions, international issues are
that course. Authorities on China’s Hainan Island resolved by a dramatic, decisive development—the
detain the twenty-four-member US crew. After collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification
twelve days and a tense standoff, authorities of Germany come to mind. Much more often,
release the crew, and President Bush expressed progress is incremental. Or as President Obama
regret over the death of a Chinese pilot and has said, an administration hits more singles and
the landing of the US plane. But the attacks of doubles than home runs. Under Obama, that has
September 11, 2001 changed all the calculations. been the nature of the American achievement in
The US had enemies enough. In east Asia, at least, Asia. One of Presidents Barack Obama’s priorities
Bush’s foreign policy would embrace the hard- was the strategy of “returning to the Asia Pacific,”
headed realism of his father, George H.W. Bush. shifting a focus which had been on Europe for
200 years, to Asia, or from the Atlantic to the
From a strategic perspective, though, and amid Pacific. Obama proclaims himself "America's first
the wreckage of Bush’s foreign policy elsewhere, Pacific president." Behind this title, China was
sustained stability was reassuring. Sino- a direct factor. Before Obama, when a new US
American ties proved to be the most important, president took office, bilateral ties between the
and potentially combustible, component of US and China would first experience some bumps
international relations for the next several before returning to normal. During Obama’s term,
28
cloistered economy. But after years of false starts, its decades. The condition of the relationship between
leadership had become determined to join the WTO, Beijing and Washington was and still is pivotal to
the club of nations that sets the ground rules for the nature of the global order. Competition would
international trade. This was no small commitment— herald a revival of great power rivalries, a return
gaining membership would require China to strike to a world of balancing, hedging and competing
individual deals with the group’s 135 members to alliances. Co-operation paved the way for an
ease tariffs and open itself to foreign companies. overhaul of the existing multilateral system to
In the months immediately after Congress voted accommodate China and other rising powers. The
to normalize trade with China, dozens of US geopolitical case for engagement was reinforced
corporations announced that they were moving by the economics. The US is China’s market place;
manufacturing overseas. And once China officially China was America’s largest creditor. There is no
joined in the WTO in 2001, the country rapidly began clearer expression of the interdependence that
transforming into an export behemoth as foreign comes with globalization (Stephens).
investment and factory work flooded into the
country—its surplus with United States alone rose “Economic freedom creates habits of liberty,”
from US$83 billion in 2001 to almost $300 billion in Bush said during his first presidential campaign.
2011 (Weissmann). “Trade freely with China, and time is on our side.”
In a September 2005 speech, Deputy Secretary
George W. Bush of State Robert B. Zoellick initiates a strategic
dialogue with China. Recognizing Beijing as an
By the time George W. Bush became president, emerging power, he calls on China to serve as a
the Chinese still had plenty of differences with “responsible stakeholder” and use its influence
the US, and vice versa. But Bush is credited with to draw nations such as Sudan, North Korea, and
delivering the thing that matters most in Beijing: Iran into the international system. That same
an essentially stable process of engagement. year, North Korea walks away from Six-Party Talks
It might have been otherwise. Before the 2000 aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
election Bush decried the so-called strategic After North Korea conducts its first nuclear test in
partnership with Beijing promoted by the Clinton October 2006, China serves as a mediator to bring
administration. Instead, he would treat China Pyongyang back to the negotiating table (Brands).
as a “competitor”. A collision between a Chinese
interceptor and a US reconnaissance aircraft over Barack Obama
the island of Hainan in the early months of the
Bush presidency looked likely to confirm him on On rare occasions, international issues are
that course. Authorities on China’s Hainan Island resolved by a dramatic, decisive development—the
detain the twenty-four-member US crew. After collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification
twelve days and a tense standoff, authorities of Germany come to mind. Much more often,
release the crew, and President Bush expressed progress is incremental. Or as President Obama
regret over the death of a Chinese pilot and has said, an administration hits more singles and
the landing of the US plane. But the attacks of doubles than home runs. Under Obama, that has
September 11, 2001 changed all the calculations. been the nature of the American achievement in
The US had enemies enough. In east Asia, at least, Asia. One of Presidents Barack Obama’s priorities
Bush’s foreign policy would embrace the hard- was the strategy of “returning to the Asia Pacific,”
headed realism of his father, George H.W. Bush. shifting a focus which had been on Europe for
200 years, to Asia, or from the Atlantic to the
From a strategic perspective, though, and amid Pacific. Obama proclaims himself "America's first
the wreckage of Bush’s foreign policy elsewhere, Pacific president." Behind this title, China was
sustained stability was reassuring. Sino- a direct factor. Before Obama, when a new US
American ties proved to be the most important, president took office, bilateral ties between the
and potentially combustible, component of US and China would first experience some bumps
international relations for the next several before returning to normal. During Obama’s term,
28
