Obama more accommodating to China: scholar

Lin Chong-pin, former vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council and a professor in Tamkang University's Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said his more pliable attitude was reflected in his failure to mention human rights or freedom during his meeting with Chinese leaders earlier this month.

In Shanghai, Obama also did not mention the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which regulates unofficial relations between the U.S. and Taiwan and requires the U.S. to sell defensive arms to Taiwan.

“This shows that the United States has wanted more from China than vice versa,” he said, noting that the Obama-Hu meeting was a major watershed in the balance of power between the two countries.

He explained that according to a joint statement on the Obama-Hu meeting posted on the White House Web site, the word “cooperation” appeared more than 40 times.

On issues ranging from Pakistan, North Korea, Iran's nuclear weapon program, and global climate issues, Washington needs assistance from China, but Beijing has nothing to ask from Washington.

Tracing the evolution of the two countries' strategic mindsets, Lin said Washington's approach has gone from engagement to containment, and then to engagement with containment and now a third track of U.S. policy had emerged -- “adjust and accommodate.”

The key to this approach is that the United States must learn to adjust its thinking and believe that an emerging China is positive force, Lin said.

This was why former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick used the term “stakeholder” to describe the U.S.-China relation, he added.

Faced with the strategic shifts between the U.S. and China, Lin said that if Taiwan tilts toward Washington, it will be unfavorable to Taiwan's economy, but if it tilts toward Beijing, it will be unfavorable to Taiwan's security.

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