Gary Locke is happy with the growing ties between China and the US economically but believes China needs to work on government transparency and more freedoms for their people. Locke is the US ambassador to China and has been trying to influence China and their policies for some time. He has tried to influence China to calm down with Japan, increase their policies for human rights, and try to clean up the smog problem that is plaguing China.
It seems as if Locke is not as happy with the economic ties as he is with the progress that he believes he is making politically in China. Both the Chinese and US economies are dependent on each other as the US owes China massive amounts of debt, and it seems as if the US is trying to leverage this relationship to try to bring freedom and equality to China.
Of the issues discussed one of the hot topics was a recent crack down of foreign reporters in China. Locke tried to warn China that their crack down on the reporters and their questionable courts are not helping enforce the governments legitimacy. The US may not be completely successful in their talks with China but due to our interesting economic ties with China, we may be one of the only countries that China will listen to.
Mr. Locke brings up some good points and seems to be a diligent ambassador. China obviously has many problems which are directly linked to its incredibly rapid growth over the past couple of decades. I believe that with ambassador assistance, growing external pressure from major world powers, and time, that China’s government will begin to place more focus upon improving the issues mentioned in your post.
Also, I feel like the world sees China as playing an interesting game in terms of their censorship. Everyone is wondering exactly why and for what purpose they limit information going in and out of the country. People realize that the country lags in human rights and general freedoms relative to other major world powers. Instead of “cracking down” on foreign reporters so they cannot document, for example, working conditions, the government could instead use that time and energy to slowly initiate the incorporation of stricter labor laws, pollution reduction, and so forth.
Well I think it is a bit funny to see that non-Chinese trying to make China to”calm down” with Japan. I do not think it is easy to influence China to calm down its aggressive moves against Japan if Mr. Locke understood what was really going on between two countries. However, I agree with the idea that Chinese government has to be more clear. Although the laws are strict, there are still lots of corruptions going on. To be more efficient (both economically and politically), transparency is necessary.
Note that we have a new Ambassador in China, Max Baucus. These stories were from a flurry as Locke prepared to return to the US.