CATO experts forecast the future of an empowered China

Dr. Ted Galen Carpenter and Justin Logan, CATO Institute experts on U.S. / Chinese relations, today spoke at a briefing entitled “China’s Rise: Is Conflict Unavoidable?” The briefing examined the different political and economic ramifications a Chinese superpower would bring about across the world.

Carpenter, home after a recent trip to Beijing, said that the relationship our nation has with China is the most important foreign policy relationship we have. He stressed the difficult nature “reunifying” a politically divided China brought with it, and noted that bringing the Chinese together might not even come about should they continue to sustain their economic success.

Both Carpenter and Logan described the immense pressure the incoming U.S. President will have to both oppose the human rights violations the Chinese have demonstrated over recent years, and forge a healthy relationship with their nation for economic purposes and political stability. Dr. Carpenter worried that Republican presidential hopeful John McCain (R-Ariz) would cause animosity to arise between Washington lawmakers and the Chinese government.

Logan noted that natural disasters, massive pollution problems, and economic disparity have highlighted Chinese infrastructure problems. He said it is “not necessarily a good thing” that their country will owe ours money in the future, but that with good statesmanship a future U.S./Chinese relationship will not necessarily turn out to be entirely detrimental for our country or theirs.