President Hu comes to Washington

EDITORIAL BY THE NEW YORK TIMES

"  We know less about China’s strategy. Its overconfidence is clear. It has been aggressively pressing its claims to disputed islands in the East and South China Seas. The military’s rising influence is troubling."

(January 18, New York City, Sri Lanka Guardian) There has been a lot of hype, for a long time, about a rising China. There is now no question about China’s growing economic power or its military ambition. Over the past year, relations between Washington and Beijing have become increasingly tense and mistrustful.

When President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China meet at the White House on Wednesday, they must try to set a new course in which competition is carefully managed and a premium is placed on cooperation. That will require a commitment to sustained discussion of the many issues dividing them — and an agreement to keep talking even in difficult times.

For Mr. Obama, the top items include: China’s currency manipulation; its enabling of North Korea and Iran; its abuse of human rights; and its recent challenge to American naval supremacy in the western Pacific.

For Mr. Hu, the top item is winning acknowledgment of its global stature. He will likely goad the president to get America’s fiscal house in order to ensure the safety of China’s large investment.

For a long time we weren’t sure if President Obama had a China strategy. (Beyond muting criticism and hoping for cooperation.) We are increasingly reassured.

Officials acknowledge that China must have a bigger say in the world and believe there are common interests to build on — but they are rightly not ceding anything. Mr. Obama has made clear that he won’t stand by while China tries to bully its neighbors. The United States has embraced India and Southeast Asia more closely and shored up alliances with South Korea and Japan.

We know less about China’s strategy. Its overconfidence is clear. It has been aggressively pressing its claims to disputed islands in the East and South China Seas. The military’s rising influence is troubling.

For a country that claims to be a global power, it is still shirking its responsibilities. China is North Korea’s main supplier of food and fuel, but it has resisted using that leverage to rein in Pyongyang’s erratic and dangerous behavior. For a major player, it can also be remarkably petulant. Even as China pumps huge sums into sophisticated new weapons, it retaliated against American arms sales to Taiwan by suspending military talks with the United States for a year.

China has recently slowed energy investments in Iran and promised to support the southern Sudan referendum. American officials say it has begun to urge North Korea to tone down its belligerence. The Chinese military played host to Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week, although its leaders couldn’t resist test flying their new stealth fighter during the visit.

What we don’t know is if these are tactical concessions to ensure a good meeting with Mr. Obama, who offered the pomp China craves — a state dinner and a 21-gun salute — or a serious rethinking on Beijing’s part.

Mr. Obama was far too deferential to Mr. Hu during their Beijing summit. He will need to do better this week. He will have to press Mr. Hu for a convincing pledge that China is committed to a peaceful rise, that it will engage in substantive talks about its military plans and will push North Korea hard to give up its nuclear program.

We also firmly believe that China will never be a great nation if it keeps censoring and imprisoning its people, including the pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, who won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize and has been unfairly jailed.

State dinners and 21-gun salutes are ephemeral. What will earn China respect as a major power is if it behaves responsibly. That must be Mr. Obama’s fundamental message.