Coming off a new low in domestic approval ratings and battered by a decidedly
hostile reception in Latin America, a mellower and gentler President George W.
Bush brought a more conciliatory message to Asia.
Western media stressed the part of Bush's speech in Japan where he suggested
that China should look upon Taiwan as its model for democracy and freedom. The
reference to Taiwan occupied only two short paragraphs out of 34 of his prepared
text. China chose to ignore the reference when Bush arrived in Beijing.
Bush began his speech in Beijing by praising China for its economic progress
and for its role in the six-party talks with North Korea. He gave a subtle
signal about the need for more religious freedom in China by attending a
Protestant church service near the Tiananmen.
Alas, both the president and the media entourage showed dismaying flaws in
their understanding of China.
When Thomas Murphy, then chairman of General Motors, visited Beijing in 1978,
he too attended mass at a Catholic church near where Bush attended the
protestant service. Giving subtle signals about religious freedom was far from
Murphy's mind, however. His only intent was to be a good Irish Catholic.
What has changed during this interval is the degree to which Buddhist temples
have flourished. Today, temples are full of worshippers and grounds covered by
incense smoke and burnt currency printed for the dead.
China has even constructed a bronze-clad statue of Guanyin, a Buddha native
to China, off Hainan Island, built by design to be taller than the Statue of
Liberty. Buddhism has always been the dominant religion in China. Why has
Western media not acknowledged the liberalization of worship in the country?
Surely no one is suggesting that only the practice of Christian religions
count toward religious freedom.
About the time of Bush's trip to Asia, the Washington-based Pew Research
Center released a remarkable survey as part of their global attitudes project.
The survey revealed that 76 percent of the Chinese people living in urban areas
expect their lives to improve over the next five years. For the United States,
it was 48 percent, closer to Russia's 45 percent.
When asked if they were "satisfied with the way things are going at home," 72
percent in China responded "satisfied," and only 19 percent "not satisfied." In
the United States, the survey indicated only 39 percent satisfied and 57 percent
not satisfied.
Even more remarkable than Pew's result is the near total absence of coverage
about this survey in Western media. Only the International Herald Tribune,
distributed outside of America, ran the story. None of the wire services and
none of the major American dailies even mentioned this poll.
Why such a lack of interest? The global attitudes project was co-chaired by
former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Senator John Danforth.
Pew's many other surveys were always cited by the mainstream U.S media. Could it
be because people allegedly deprived of freedom have no right to be optimistic?
President Bush, it seems, should have saved his lecture for his good buddy,
Russia's president Vladimir Putin at the APEC meeting in South Korea. At least
with Putin, Bush would have spoken from a relative position of strength.
Bush also misfired by holding Taiwan as a model to which China should aspire
to. People in Asia have not forgotten that the last election of this so-called
model of democracy saw a miraculous intervention of a supposed assassination
attempt on the eve of the 2004 election. The sympathy from the superficial wound
on Chen Shui Bian's belly was far more effective than any hanging chads or Swift
Boat veterans that influenced the outcome in America.
Now that Beijing has offered to buy agriculture products from Taiwan
tariff-free and dangled the prospect of sending millions of affluent mainland
tourists to Taiwan, the economic pressure on Chen to revise his no-negotiation
stance is mounting. The opposition leaders in Taiwan have already reached
rapprochement with Beijing, further isolating Chen.
It will be interesting to see how long Chen can abide by rules in the books
without new subterfuge. His predecessor, Lee Teng Hui, was known to make
revision of the Taiwan's constitution an annual exercise.
More than 1 million Taiwanese have already voted with their feet by moving to
live in the mainland. Even 100,000-plus Americans are now living in China. Such
voluntary migration of people flies in the face of the image of a repressive
China portrayed by the western media.
During his visit to Asia, President Bush has shifted to a perceptibly softer
diplomatic approach from his previous hard rhetoric. It is a small but hopefully
significant step toward collaboration instead of confrontation. Western media
needs to take off their biased filters and see China for what it has become -- a
progressive nation on the move.
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