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It has been almost one month since the standoff started on April 10, 2012 between the Philippines and China at the waters around at Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal). This standoff raises a new round of debate on the dispute between China and other claimant states on both the sovereignty and maritime jurisdiction.
For too long, the United States has allowed its fixation on the renminbi’s exchange rate to deflect attention from far more important issues in its economic relationship with China. For a growth-starved US, the opportunities for access to China’s markets far outweigh the currency threat.
On 3-4 May 2012 the United States and China convene their 2012 “Strategic and Economic” Dialogue. As the two powers and governments meet in Beijing for two days of intensive discussions and negotiations over a wide range of complicated issues, much uncertainty surrounds the relationship.
In an exclusive interview, Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy speaks about China’s increasing influence in international institutions and the idea of international structural change. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US is generally perceived as the sole super power nation. This notion has changed as the rise of many developing countries start to participate more actively in international affairs. He envisions China’s role in selecting heads of IMF and the World Bank will increase.
China’s all-round reform, especially its political one, has long suffered from interference and obstruction from the extreme left. Dealing with Bo Xilai’s serious disciplinary violation and the related Chongqing cases with a strong rule of law will help remove obstacles posed by the extreme left in China’s road to reform, thereby initiating political reform including change to the judicial system.
What does the Bo affair tell us about China? The very fact that so much of it has entered the public domain – and in real time, as opposed to long after the event – is a sign that it is now far more difficult to keep these things under wraps. The growth of the internet, microblogs and a more lightly censored media mean that Chinese society is far more open and porous than was previously the case.
2011 China-United States Exchange Foundation. All rights reserved.
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