Yusheng Yao on the China-U.S. Relations

With the state visit from Chinese President Hu Jintao, Yusheng Yao took a moment to react to recent media reports about the evolving relationship between the United States and China.


The U.S. And China: Rivals That May Need Each Other As this NPR story suggests, Americans then to look at future relationship between the United States and China with two possible extremes.
America has entered a new year with a rising national debt and deficit projections. Meanwhile, China continues its ascent as a global economic player. In the years to come, an economically bruised U.S. may have to share the superpower spotlight with the competition. Still, former Pentagon strategist Thomas P.M. Barnett tells NPR's Guy Raz, American hype over China's rise is overblown, while foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman predicts that China-U.S. relations will get "bumpier" over the next few years.

As our resident China expert, Yusheng Yao reflects on these two positions.

In regard to Barnett's argument that China's rise is overblown: I don't think China's rise as an economic power is overblown--the dynamic and momentum of China's growth will continue for years to come. yes, it will take decades for the most Chinese to reach the level of American middle class. But that is not very relevant. What China lags far behind is its comprehensive power (especially what Joseph Ny's definition of soft power--cultural values and political system, etc) and it will not be easy for China to narrow the gap. Barnett's another point is that the challenge for the U.S. with China is not its competition but the level of responsibility it takes to the world system. That is true; but he may underestimate China's desire to change the rules of the game, not just to follow the established rules in world politics, finance, etc. That can be a great challenge for the U.S. in the future: how much are we willing to accommodate that?

Rachman's comment on U.S./China relations as "always had elements of friendship, cooperation and rivalry" can stand when we think of the more recent relationship of past 15 years. If we push the relationship back to the late 80s and early 90s, we found much difficult time after Tiananmen, and then before Nixon came to China, the two countries had been deadly enemies. For the present, when U.S. economy is not good and China is booming, China is perceived as taking unfair advantage of the bilateral and world trade system. I agree with Rachman that the bilateral relations will be bumpier in the next five years and I would go further to say that the relationship will be more bumpier as the balance of power is shifting between the two on more issues.

A Little Perspective on the News

In a recent article on NPR, the impact of Chinese demand on the global wine market caught my eye. As a participant in a faculty trip to China, I was struck by the commonalities between the Chinese and ourselves. My exact words (preserved by our P.R. department) was, "For me, our journey to China was filled with the realization that the desires, goals, and concerns that shape life in the United States are facing the Chinese. Yes, their language and culture are different. Yes, they are still doing it by hand (the agrarian life is alive and well), but if you looked you could see that they are living the industrial revolution. The brands you know, they know. The food you eat, they are acquiring a taste for. The stuff you want to buy (everything from raw materials to luxury goods) they want to buy."

So for me the story about the growth in demand for red wine screamed western influence. I checked myself however and shot a note over to a China expert. Since I work at a school, I actually know a China expert. Yusheng Yao looked the story over and gave me his take.

"No doubt about it--the introduction of western concepts of luxury. On the other hand, Chinese have a tradition of conspicuous consumption among the rich, even if it went against Confucianism. But the taste for Bordeaux was definitely developed by the newly rich who admire the Western lifestyle."

A quick response, but it complicated by assumptions about the impact of economic growth in China. The gap between reality versus assumption concern China is an important one. There is a complex process of cultural and economic evolution taking place in the China, but that transformation is not divorced from history. The Chinese experience offers plenty of historical antecedents shaping current patterns. On the other hand, the impact of western interaction is perhaps amplifying some elements of established culture.

July 16, 1969

The anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon is this month. While there is some question about the future of the current space program. There is something to be learned from taking a moment to remember how much was accomplished with the Apollo Space Program. Twelve men walked on the moon beginning in 1969. The technical problems associated with getting to the moon are almost forgotten today. The fact of the matter is the smartphones we used everyday have more computing power than the computer used in the space program. While that seems amazing, it only represents the tip of the iceberg when we consider also every technical detail involving going to the moon was conceived and quasi-perfected between May 25, 1961 when President John F. Kennedy gave his memorable speech in front of Congress and July 1969 when the landing actually took place. Kennedy's proclamation had everything to do with the politics of the Cold War. Indeed, without the specter of the U.S.S.R reaching the moon first--its unlikely we would have committed the money to the space program. Critics then, and critics today, are quick to point out more hard science can be done with unmanned vehicles and the cost associated with keeping a person alive in space make manned flight a waste. Indeed, the dangers associated with space flight are well known. In the Apollo Program the death of the Apollo 1 crew: Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee marked the first example of the danger when they died testing Apollo systems. In recent times, the Challenger explosion and the loss of the Columbia have reminds Americans space exploration is risky. These dangers however, are not the real barrier to exploring space. Today, the cost question represents the most powerful challenge to space exploration. However, historically the question is not new. Even as men walked on the moon, protest over Vietnam, urban race riots, and rising social tension cause many people to question the wisdom of spending money on the space program. Today, in the midst of a massive economic downturn, people are once again asking why spend money on a space program? NASA to it credit, has played the politics of budgets as well as any government body, but they have always been fighting a loosing battle. Nixon began cutting the space program when he came into office and every president since Nixon has had questions about spending money on NASA's budget. Indeed, there are always plenty of people worried about the our national debt and those people look at the manned space program and say cut it. Given the challenges, plenty of people, especially observers in Florida are looking beyond the government to help keep the dream of exploring space alive. The idea of a commercial space program to fill the gap is interesting. Whether or not private corporations going into space grows into the business advocate hope for is a question. Another key question is whether or not this commercial space business will be in Florida. Florida is linked to the space program and because of that connection we hear more about funding problem and economic impact of space program than most communities. In case you haven't notice, fears about the end of the shuttle program and what will happen while the Orion capsule is made ready to fly are in the news regularly. One things that give me hope is that while politicians aren't traditionally concerned about long term science issues (hard to get elected saying this will pay off in 20 years) they are concerned about appearance and they are reactionary. Given those facts, the specter of the rise of China as a space-faring nation might translate into continued health for NASA. The trick will be to avoid the militarization of space, something that we have been struggling with since the 1950s. The case for a manned space program can be made, but it needs to be made at every level. We don't hear a lot about space in school and unless there is trouble, you don't hear about it in the news. NASA's efforts to raise awareness about the benefits of space are pretty weak. It's a shame because NASA is the place where breakthrough in solar power, recycling, environmental engineering, and material science can happen the fastest. Just look at the Apollo program, the innovations created there are still affecting our lives today. President Obama's desire to create a new green economy works in favor of the space program and the fact the infrastructure associated with NASA is already up and running make it hard to say the program will disappear. Still, looking back at the Apollo moon landing remind us to consider what a U.S. space program can accomplish with big goals that push our imagination.

History Department Profile: Dr. Yusheng Yao

Rollins College has always acted as a resource for the Central Florida community. While Winter Park residents have longed understood the college as a center for the arts, they sometime forget the dedication to academic innovation and excellence associated with Rollins. Yet, the school's history is one of innovation in teaching, scholarship, and service to the community. Today, with issues of global cooperation and competition daily headline, you can find professors in many academic departments dedicated to understanding these new global circumstances. In the history department, the history and future of China are a central focus for Dr. Yusheng Yao.

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Dr. Yao grew up in Beijing, China. As a sixth grader, he welcomed the Cultural Revolution when it started in 1966 because it relieved his worry about the upcoming examination for entering junior high school. Like millions of the Chinese youth of his generation, Yao was sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, where he worked in the fields at first and later on as a carpenter. Without opportunity for school education and ample time to kill in his spare time, Yao began to study English by himself in 1972. When national examination for college was restored in 1978 after Deng Xiaoping came to power, Yao could enter Peking University. After receiving his B.A. and M.A. degrees in English literature in 1982 and 1984, he had taught in the English Department of Peking University for three years.

Yao came the United States for graduate study on Harvard-Yenching scholarship in 1987. He received his M.A. in American Studies in 1992 and Ph.D. in history in 1999 at the University of Minnesota. His research on Chinese modernity can be found in numerous academic journals.

For more information on China, investigate the China Center at Rollins College.