A Guest Commentary by Patrick Mattimore
U.S. President Barack Obama told Zhang Yesui, China’s new Ambassador to the U.S., that the President is determined to improve his country’s relationship with China. Despite some warming of relations between the two countries in recent days, President Obama should start by reviewing just how nasty and unfounded U.S. rhetoric towards China has become.
A good place for America’s President to begin his inquiry is with some of the editorial pages from America’s leading newspapers. The top five newspapers according to circulation numbers are: “The Wall Street Journal, (WSJ)” “USA Today,” (USAT) “The New York Times, (NYT)” the “Los Angeles Times,” (LAT) and the “Washington Post,” (WP).
Those newspapers consistently bash China. Even a recent story about the economic success of China’s Hainan Island, which appeared in The NYT, characterized the “success” as being emblematic of China’s excesses.
Here are some of the other nuggets the newspapers are throwing out lately.
China has an undervalued currency which threatens the world’s economy. This recurrent drumbeat is apparently meant to deflect attention from the fact that America’s policies precipitated the world’s worst financial crisis in seventy years.
China’s aid to foreign countries is characterized as a means by which China can exert its influence elsewhere. Whether or not that is so, American foreign aid always comes with strings attached. (more…)
