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An interpretation in the New York Times (Barboza) of the Chinese announcement taking the U.S. to task for its "addiction to debts" says that, in a way, because other alternative bond sources don't really exist, the Chinese are stuck with investing in U.S. treasuries. Having financed the import boom in America, the Chinese are watching anxiously as U.S. bonds are down-graded.
Kissinger, while not responding to current events in On China, makes a different case, namely, that the U.S. and China have a forty-year-old opportunity to grow closer. While initially, what with Korea and to a lesser extent, Viet Nam, China seemed an aggressor uninterested in engaging the U.S., it has had the opportunity since ping pong diplomacy and the Nixon visit to re-consider our relations, and has, basically, constructively engaged in a non-adversarial relationship while making the decision to grow economically in an environment where it needed to learn a lot in order to catch up. The key is that during the eighties and early nineties, China engaged and grew, admitting and acting upon needs which Mao et al never would have admitted. The inner-looking China looked outside for guidance and training, and leveraged the energy and creativity of its populace to grow more quickly than the world had ever seen before.
So, we have two points of view. The Chinese announcement that the U.S. had better get its house in order, and Kissinger's longer view that China and the U.S. have an opportunity to "not shake the world, but build it" (Kissinger, 530). Yes, the U.S. needs to get its house in order. However, it can do that most constructively (if we buy Kissinger's analysis) by working with China for a better world, not in opposition to it.
Stepping back a bit, some interesting things are happening to the Sino-American relationship. Many of Apple Computer's hugely successful products are manufactured in China, some by Foxconn, a Chinese company of interest lately because of suicides in its workforce, and, alternatively, its rapid growth. Last week, Foxconn made an announcement (The Economist, 58) that it was going to "hire" one million robots to replace parts of its workforce. This is a good thing for productivity and, perhaps, a bad thing because almost necessarily, prices will rise. Apple and Foxconn obviously care. But so should we. Rising costs signal an opportunity for U.S. companies to bring tech manufacturing out from China, perhaps all the way to the U.S.
The Chinese relationship is a sympathetic one. The best course is for the U.S. and China to continue down the path of mutual understanding (maybe an improperly used Cold War term), respect, and dialog recognizing the fact that unless the U.S. and China continue to work together, both will ruin a strong opportunity.
Reference
Barboza, David. China Tells U.S. It Must 'Cure Its Addiction to Debt'. New York Times. 6 Aug 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/business/global/china-a-big-creditor-says-us-has-only-itself-to-blame.html?src=me&ref=business
Kissinger, Henry. On China. The Penguin Press. 2011.
Economist. Robots Don't Complain. 6 August 2011. 58.