Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
TheUnitedStatesshouldusethetimeavailabletoencourageand
help China to integrate itself into the world community, and to play a
part in shaping the international order. Then China will find it worth-
while to accept its obligations as a global citizen.
(Lee 1996)
So does the United States' failure to engage effectively with China
and mentor it in becoming a good international citizen account for
China's newfound pushiness? The answer to this question is open to
debate, but up to the present, at least, this much is clear: Beijing is
not prickly or pushy about everything. Incidents and developments
that elicit Beijing's diplomatic ire and incite China into throwing its
weight around in the international arena pertain almost exclusively
in some way to China's perceptions of its territorial integrity or inter-
nal stability. Thus, activities and personalities seen as favoring or agi-
tating for the independence and secession of Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner
Mongolia, or Taiwan from China are on Beijing's diplomatic hit list,
as also are the Falun Gong and its leadership.
The number of victims on that diplomatic hit list is growing, and
individual companies and even universities are now feeling Beijing's
wrath. After the Obama administration approved of a massive arms
sale to Taiwan in 2010, Beijing engaged in its same diplomatic invec-
tive about U.S. interference in China's “internal” affairs, but this time
there was concrete economic action. Beijing targeted Boeing (one of
the firms involved in the Taiwan arms deal) by deciding to purchase
several dozen commercial aircraft from Airbus, Boeing's European
rival.
Beijing can be quite prickly at times about its sovereignty over Tibet
and the activities of the Dalai Lama, a man Beijing sees primarily as
someone who wants to harm China's territorial unity and integrity
by tearing Tibet away from China. While the West may see the Dalai
Lama primarily as an inspiring teacher, speaker, and Nobel laureate,
in China he is usually depicted as a conniving “splittist” who has fig-
ured out how to manipulate public opinion and the media in Western
countries. The West sees the Dalai Lama primarily as a religious
leader, while China sees him primarily as a political leader. The truth
of the matter is, of course, that he is both. China is sensitive about
Western universities awarding the Dalai Lama honorary academic
degrees and deplores visits and meetings in any capacity between
the Dalai Lama and the political leaders of any country. The Dalai
Lama has recently claimed that he no longer seeks the independence
of Tibet from China, but it is still difficult for Beijing to see him as a
non-political leader because he maintains a government in exile in
