08:42 pm
China 1, Europe 0 (and the United Kingdom -100)
British Foreign Minister David Miliband, in today’s Guardian, via the always excellent China Digital Times:
David Miliband today described China as the 21st century’s “indispensable power” with a decisive say on the future of the global economy, climate change and world trade.
The foreign secretary predicted that over the next few decades China would become one of the two “powers that count”, along with the US, and Europe could emerge as a third only if it learned to speak with one voice.
The remarks, in a Guardian interview, represented the most direct acknowledgement to date from a senior minister, or arguably from any western leader, of China’s ascendant position in the global pecking order. . . .
Miliband compared China’s potential role in the coming years to the role the US claimed for itself in the 20th century, recalling a 1998 boast by Madeleine Albright, then US secretary of state.
“China is becoming an indispensable power in the 21st century in the way Madeleine Albright said the US was an indispensable power at the end of the last century,” Miliband said. “It has become an indispensable power economically, and China will become an indispensable power across a wider range of issues.”
But in contrast to America’s 20th-century ascent, which eclipsed Britain, Miliband said China would not displace the US but rather join it at “the new top table”, and because of its low per capita income, it would not rival the US as the world’s leading superpower for at least a generation. . . .
Miliband compared China’s potential role in the coming years to the role the US claimed for itself in the 20th century, recalling a 1998 boast by Madeleine Albright, then US secretary of state.
“China is becoming an indispensable power in the 21st century in the way Madeleine Albright said the US was an indispensable power at the end of the last century,” Miliband said. “It has become an indispensable power economically, and China will become an indispensable power across a wider range of issues.”
But in contrast to America’s 20th-century ascent, which eclipsed Britain, Miliband said China would not displace the US but rather join it at “the new top table”, and because of its low per capita income, it would not rival the US as the world’s leading superpower for at least a generation.
I find it interesting that Miliband uses language — as he himself acknowledges — that echoes Madeleine Albright’s description of the United States (pre-Bush) as the “indispensable nation.” But there’s a fundamental difference here, one that I’m sure Milibrand intended.
Albright was arguing that the U.S. was essential not merely because of its military or economic power, but also because of its values. Here, via the Googles, is (what I think is) the original quote, which came during a February 1998 town meeting in Columbus, Ohio (one, ironically, that was disrupted by protesters unhappy with the Clinton Administration’s decision to launch a military strike on Iraq):
“What we are doing,” replied Albright, “is so that you all can sleep at night. I am very proud of what we are doing. We are the greatest nation in the world. . . .”
She stopped as the audience rose and applauded.
“. . .and what we are doing,” she resumed, “is being the indispensable nation, willing to make the world safe for our children and grandchildren, and for nations who follow the rules.”
Milibrand, in contrast, is talking about China’s strong economic position, not its values:
“Historians will look back at 2009 and see that China played an incredibly important role in stabilising global capitalism. That is very significant and sort of ironic,” Miliband said. “There’s a joke that goes: ‘After 1989, capitalism saved China. After 2009, China saved capitalism.’” . . .
Those are two very different world views, and given the current world economic situation (and the shrinking role of the United States), I’m afraid that Miliband’s conception of indispensability is far closer to reality than Albright’s.
It’s also striking that Miliband does not see Europe as one of the “powers that count.” I’m sure that will go over well in Brussels, Paris, and Berlin. I wonder how the Tories will react — on one hand, they’re mostly Euroskeptics, but on the other hand, Britain’s own foreign minister just dissed the power of Great Britain (albeit indirectly).
To put all of this in context, the annual EU-China summit is scheduled to start on Wednesday. Given Milibrand’s comments — which, among other things, makes a joke about what happened in 1989 — the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown may believe it no longer has the luxury to criticize a government that will play a central role in determining whether or not the British economy craters (further).
Perhaps what Miliband is actually saying is that China is indispensable to the U.K.’s success — and the future electoral success of the Brown government.
I’m sure quite a few folks in Beijing are smiling right now.
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