US buying a pie in the sky with its China policy

Indian diplomats had been whispering more than six months ago that there was some sort of 'intelligence alliance' between the US and China, but they were not taken seriously. It has now been revealed that over a year ago the Chinese installed American-supplied electronic monitoring stations through which the two countries have exchanged sensitive data on the Soviet Union.The timing of this revelation is significant. The Reagan Administration deliberately leaked this to the press in what observers see as a move to finesse the Republican Party's ultra-right wing that is pro-Taiwanese. This element of Reagan's party is critical of proposed arms sales to China on the ground that America should not support a communist country. They also contend that the US is buying a pie in the sky with its China policy. What's in it for us, they ask. With the revelation that the Chinese were actually helping Uncle Sam snoop on the Soviet Union, the Administration expects to neutralise its critics with the persuasive argument that the Chinese have been helpful and reliable in an extremely sensitive area of intelligence strategy and ought therefore to be rewarded.But no sooner had US Secretary of State Alexander Haig left the Chinese mainland than the Chinese publicly called for negotiations with the Soviets to end the Sino-Soviet border dispute. This is seen as a warning to the Americans that if they go overboard in arming Taiwan, China will have no option but to seek an unholy detente with the Soviets.Haig (left) and Deng: Getting togetherHopes Belied:During the early days of the Reagan Administration, when political battlelines were still being drawn within the State Department and the National Security Council, certain Washington diplomats were voicing the cautious optimism that Indo-US relations were headed for a badly-needed thaw. These analysts had based their judgement on the anti-China rumblings emanating from the Reagan camp. Even some veteran State Department insiders were willing to wager that a chill in the Indo-American honeymoon, that began with the Shanghai communique almost a decade ago, would give way to a new rapprochement between the US and India.The logic dictating that weakened US links with China would cause the US to gravitate toward the country that enjoys overwhelming primacy in the subcontinent yielded to an even more powerful premise: the Reaganites' uncompromising global anti-Sovietism. All other concerns are subordinated to this idea which, while nascent and wishy-washy during the Carter regime, has now found the kind of expression under the new Administration that would make John Foster Dulles turn green with envy.And it doesn't take a logician to deduce that America's natural comrade-in-arms against the "Soviet menace" is, and will continue to be, communist China. The more forceful America's global anti-Soviet concerns, the stronger the bonds between the nations of Uncle Sam and Chairman Mao. By some perverse quirk of geopolitical logic, China is now considered to be what a diplomat describes as "an honorary non-communist country" by US policy makers.Hua : Paying attention to IndiaGreat Improvement:US diplomats have even added to their political lexicon some of the language of anti-Soviet rhetoric popularised by the Chinese across the world. As Walter J. Stoessel, under-secretary for political affairs, said recently about China: "Our policies toward Soviet expansionism and hegemonism run on parallel tracks." The word "hegemonism" was first used widely here in public in 1979 when Deng visited the United States and sent reporters and politicians scurrying for their dictionaries.But Sino-American relations have come a long way since the Deng visit when the charismatic Chinese charmer warmed the cockles of capitalist hearts by his open admiration for the technological wonders spawned by the free system. The geriatric jet set of Chinese diplomacy is not only an astonishing quick study but also a master of the art of public relations. The Chinese leadership "opened" China up to foreign reporters and encouraged the outflow of a steady diet of news accounts about China's flirtation with the market system and free expression.Never mind that these on-again-off-again doses of Deng's version of Lenin's new economic policy may have been an aberration or that Freedom Wall crumbled swiftly under tie jackboot of party censorship. The impression, nonetheless, conveyed to the US was that in some quaint, mystical way, China was girding to embark down the road to a liberal nirvana.Governing Factors: The Chinese were also quick to sense, early in the game, that they may have some initial difficulties with Reagan. Secretary of State Alexander Haig was no problem. He was a friend. He needed no convincing that China and the US need to march lock-step on the road to Soviet containment. Haig was quite willing to let China play the role of anti-Soviet policeman in Asia and allow American policies in that region to piggyback on Chinese initiatives.But the Chinese also knew that Haig alone does not make foreign policy. Within the Reagan camp exists a pro-Taiwan lobby that the Chinese needed to neutralise. The lobby consists of some of Reagan's closet advisers. Among them Counsel Ed Meese, and White House Chief of Staff James Baker. Meese and Baker are hardly foreign policy sophisticates. Both are die-hard anti-communists who believed that in its effort to reach for the red star over Asia, America had unnecessarily trampled underfoot its loyal ally, Taiwan.Still, the Chinese had one crucial, unconcealable thing going for them: The Reaganites are far more anti-Soviet than the previous Carter Administration. The Chinese deftly went to work on the pro-Taiwan elements in order to convince them that benefits of a firmer Washington-Beijing handshake far outweighed any risk. Taiwan, again was expendable.Successful Diplomacy: But the Chinese agreed to be flexible on American arms to Taiwan, valued at about $700 million (Rs 560 crore) a year. The Chinese agreed to tone down their protests so long as arms sales to Taiwan did not exceed the current volume and sophistication. The Chinese would oppose, for example, the supply of sophisticated fighter aircraft to Taiwan that would enable the island to control the straits and resist negotiation with the mainland. That China's America card has been a whopping success is quite evident. In March, the Chinese ambassador, accompanied by a deputy director of Beijing's Foreign Ministry, met for 45 minutes with members of the Reagan Administration. What was significant about this meeting was the composition of the Administration team. It included: Reagan himself, Vice-President George Bush, Meese, Baker, Haig, National Security Director Richard Allen and his aide Jame Lilly.A Washington diplomat commented: "For such a high-powered White House team to meet with a Chinese deputy director just shows you how far the US has come in its relations with China since the Nixon visit. It's strongly symbolic." Not only have the Chinese effectively defanged the Administration's pro-Taiwan lobby, but they also have it eating out of their hands. On May 28, the Chinese ambassador held a small dinner. His guests: Meese, Baker, Allen - and their wives. "Their is little doubt that the Chinese are behaving like a global power," an astute observer remarked. "The Reaganites are ready to accept them as such. But in reality, this is a psychological construct. What attributes do they have of a global power? Certainly not economically. And even militarily they took a bit of a beating in Vietnam. If you keep repeating something it appears to become true."Partners: In concrete terms China will soon become a major beneficiary of American arms sales. Under the Carter Administration, a high-level delegation had visited China to discuss strategic issues. The Chinese defence minister also visited the US, but the decision to start shipping arms remained in limbo. The issue reemerged dramatically in March when Defence Secretary Casper Weinberger - who is scheduled to visit China soon - announced that the US would commence massive arms sales to China if the Soviet Union invaded Poland.But the Americans are now proceeding in that direction without relying on any linkages, including the Polish one. Haig's visit to China - his three days in Beijing - focused on the arms sales and joint global strategies. The Americans are expected to offer China military support equipment, anti-tank guns, ground-to-air missiles, aircraft equipment, tank metal plating, and die computers that China so badly needs. While China's limited finances will preclude its purchase of the entire lethal goodies bag, its leaders will shop selectively for items that will help them upgrade the country's military technology.Already there is a flurry of activity in the White House and Capitol Hill aimed at changing or modifying hundreds of laws to facilitate the supply of arms and sophisticated technology to China - America's honorary non-communist global partner. These laws were designed specifically to prevent the export of sophisticated arms and goods to countries involved in or advocating international communist conspiracies.India's Position: On other global matters, the Chinese will be critical of the US-South Africa rapprochement. "This is largely because the Chinese want to retain credibility in black Africa and to keep the Soviets out of there," one source said. "You can also expect the US and China to agree to assist the NUTIA (National Union for Total Independence of Angola) guerrillas in Angola. The US will probably aid them through South Africa and China through Zaire."India still remains a diplomatic basket case as far as American foreign policy makers are concerned. The trouble is, one diplomatic source said, "in order to gain American recognition or respect, nations have to be either actively anti-Soviet or pro-Israel - one of of the two. Pakistan is anti-Soviet and anti-Israel. India fits into neither category."The US is now inclined to conduct its foreign poiicy towards India via the Chinese diplomatic umbrella. A fascinating example of this was Under-Secretary Stoessel's speech before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Entitled "Foreign Policy, Priorities in Asia," the transcript of the speech listed various countries under the heading "US Interest in Asia". The only reference to India was under the sub-head listing "China". It reads: "We each (the US and China) place emphasis on bolstering the security of Pakistan and other relationships with India."For all the platitudinous mouthings by some New Delhi official about "beneficial bilateralism" between India and the US, the bottom line is that India is important to the US only as it fits into US global strategy of "containing" the Soviet Union. And the US policies toward the subcontinent are being closely coordinated with Beijing.Importance: India was to be wooed only to the extent that was needed to prevent anything sensational or ground-breaking to emerge from the New Delhi visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua. With the exception of an agreement to negotiate further on the Sino-Indian border dispute, differences between the two countries over arms to Pakistan and Kampuchea may remain unresolved.No doubt China, and therefore the US, sees India as what one diplomat describes as "the missing link in encircling the Soviet Union". China needs India not for the sentimental reason that the two nations were once bhai-bhais in the struggle against colonialism, but for the practical consideration that an Indo-Soviet alliance presents a real setback to China in its cold war against the Soviet Union. While the Chinese have not quite resorted to whispering sweet nothings into India's ear, they have at least ceased uttering sour slogans such as describing Indians as the lickspittle or running dogs of imperialism.And, notably, when he visited Pakistan, Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang abstained from making any reference to the Kashmir question-a dispute in which China has sided with Pakistan in the past. The Huang Hua visit to India is part of a Sino-American psychological strategy to keep the Soviets edgy. It says to the Soviets, India can be wooed, perhaps even drawn away from the Soviet Union. "It's a way of keeping the Soviets stirred up," one source said, "to squeeze them psychologically. The Soviets can never be happy at the prospect of a Sino-Indian rapprochement. In fact, it drives them up the wall."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 19, 2013 08:56 IST--- ENDS ---

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US buying a pie in the sky with its China policy

Indian diplomats had been whispering more than six months ago that there was some sort of 'intelligence alliance' between the US and China, but they were not taken seriously.

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