Chinese find some unexpected moments in US presidential debate
In the end, Obama and Romney sound more realistic about how far they can influence Beijing, say analysts.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and President Obama shake hands after the third presidential debate at Lynn University, Monday night, Oct. 22, in Boca Raton, Fla.
Win McNamee/AP
Exercises in democracy such as Monday night鈥檚 US presidential debate are not the sort of event the Chinese authorities choose to broadcast on television, so few Chinese citizens witnessed it. But the debate will not have thrown many surprises to the privileged officials with access to CNN.
China was not much more than an afterthought on an evening dominated by the Middle East and other issues; even its traditional role in US presidential campaign politics, as a whipping boy, seemed unusually muted.
Indeed, Mitt Romney provided the most unexpected moment in the China segment of the debate when he started by pointing out that both Beijing and Washington shared an interest in ensuring a stable, peaceful, and free trading world.
鈥淩omney鈥檚 attitude surprised me,鈥� says Sun Zhe, head of the Center for Research on Sino-US Relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing. 鈥淚 think he showed his real self in the debate, and that his earlier criticism of China was exaggerated.鈥�
That did not stop the Republican candidate from repeating his flagship campaign promise on China 鈥� that he will declare America鈥檚 second largest trading partner a currency manipulator 鈥渙n Day 1.鈥�
Theoretically this could lead to new tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States, but the authorities in Beijing do not expect such moves, says Professor Sun. Complaints that the renminbi currency is deliberately undervalued to make Chinese exports cheaper are 鈥渙ut of date,鈥� argues Sun. The renminbi鈥檚 real exchange rate against the US dollar has strengthened by 30 percent over the past five years, and Beijing鈥檚 current account surplus has dropped from more than 10 percent of gross domestic product in 2007 to around 2 percent now.
Nor was a commentator on the state-run news agency Xinhua impressed by calls from both President Obama and Romney for China to 鈥減lay by the rules鈥� of international trade.
China 鈥渋s not duty bound to abide by the regulations designed by a certain country,鈥� wrote Liu Chang, in a response to the debate. 鈥淲illing or not, Democratic or Republican, the next US president shall have to tone down his get-tough-on-China rhetoric made along the campaign trail and deal with his country鈥檚 sclerotic inaptness toward China鈥檚 inevitable rise.鈥澛�
One sign of the changing times, however, lay in what was not said during the debate, suggests Hu Xingdou, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology. 鈥淧olitical issues such as human rights were not mentioned,鈥� he points out. 鈥淥bama and Romney are more realistic鈥� about how far they can influence Beijing.聽