May 11, 1999
China's No.1 Enemy
By ROBERT KAGAN
ASHINGTON -- NATO's accidental
bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade has revealed
the fallacy at the core of the Clinton Administration's China policy. While Administration officials continue to yearn
for a "strategic partnership" with
Beijing, China's leaders make no effort to conceal the fact they consider
the United States an enemy -- or,
more precisely, the enemy.
How else can one interpret the Chinese Government's response to the
bombing? Instead of trying to contain
the damage to diplomatic relations,
as any friendly nation would have
after such an obvious if tragic mistake, the Chinese Government used
its vast propaganda machine to whip
up anti-American hysteria.
The Government bused student
protesters to the American Embassy,
and the police cordoned off parts of
Beijing to make access to the compound easier. State-run media refused to print repeated apologies
from NATO and the United States.
Instead of accepting NATO's explanations, in fact, the Chinese Government
has persisted in claiming that NATO
intentionally hit the embassy, which
has only further inflamed protesters
who have no other information. The
result is that Ambassador James Sasser and other embassy employees are
self-described hostages and in peril.
This anti-American campaign in
China did not begin with the bombing.
For weeks Chinese citizens have been
barraged by Government propaganda -- complete with old films from the
Korean War -- depicting the United
States and its allies as vicious aggressors against an innocent and helpless
Serbia. All this fits within the broader
anti-American line Beijing has been
spouting for years: that the United
States is an imperialist aggressor,
bent on world domination, and at China's expense.
Why have Chinese leaders chosen
to use the bombing to mobilize anti-American hatred? Perhaps they are
trying to distract attention from the
10-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Perhaps, having been caught red-handed stealing
American nuclear secrets, they want
to turn the tables and put the United
States on the defensive. Perhaps they
believe that bullying and brinksmanship are good tactics to use with an
Administration that seems bent on
"engagement" at any cost. And given
the lack of indignation expressed so
far by White House officials in the
face of China's behavior, they may be
right.
But none of these explanations preclude another possibility. Perhaps
Beijing is just revealing what it really
thinks about the United States. Six
years ago, a report prepared by top
Chinese foreign and military specialists declared that the United States
was China's "international archenemy." When its military conducts
war games, the primary adversary is
the United States. When Chinese leaders map out their ambitions -- taking
control of Taiwan and becoming the
dominant power in East Asia -- they
see the United States as the main
obstacle. They are right. So far, the
United States has insisted on remaining the leading power in East Asia.
The Chinese believe their ambitions
clash directly with the vital interests
of the United States. They're right
about that, too.
Would that we in the United States
were as clear-sighted. The Administration believes that if we don't treat
China as an enemy, it won't become
one. Those who recommend a tougher
approach, those who call for containing China's ambitions, are usually accused of creating a self-fulfilling
prophecy.
But what if the prophecy has already been fulfilled? When the smoke
clears from this latest and most revealing crisis, sober Americans may
want to start taking the emerging
confrontation as seriously as the Chinese do.
Robert Kagan is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.