美 Mei - Zhong 中 關 Guan - Xi 系

Why is America energetically researching China?
美国为何起劲研究中国

By Shen Dingli (沈丁立)

Original Publication:

The People’s Daily (Overseas Edition)
人民日报海外版
Link to Original Article in Chinese

Translated by Anton Lee Wishik II for Mei-Zhong Guanxi

America is a superpower.  Where is it super?  It has a mighty economy, is dominant in finance, blazes new trails in science and technology, is the leader in military affairs, has a culture with the strength to penetrate, etc.  In addition, there’s one more point: its education and research.  Regarding America’s education and scientific research, it invests a lot, and its strategy and foresight are strong.  These attributes apply to both hard and soft science.

Americans talk of the national interest.  In order to gain a dominant position in the world, the government doesn’t skimp in spending huge sums of money and strengthening research on international relations.  In certain departments, think tanks, universities, academic circles, and the media, they comprehensively develop research on significant international issues.  This embodies the participation of society and a situation involving the government and the people helping each other.  The consumer market for the results of this research is also quite pluralistic, and includes the government, academia, the media, students, and a general audience.  We can see that the researchers themselves are perhaps also consumers of this kind of research.

The solid foundation for America’s research on international issues as well as the high level of importance placed on it are both rooted in the global nature of America’s national interest.  Conversely, the extensive results of its research on international affairs also provide guiding theories and operational policies for its work internationally.  The two shine more brilliantly in each other’s company.

In the past ten years, America’s research on China has reached unprecedented levels of development.  Across the entire country and from top to bottom, the surge in the study of Mandarin has gone higher and higher.  Many parents and students already know that the ability to speak Chinese is not only a skill, but is even more of a precondition for the expansion of their careers.  All kinds of media are reporting more and more on China.  Beijing is already the optimum destination for American reporters stationed abroad.  For many reporters stationed in China, when their term is up, they don’t hesitate to leave their original company and look for work in China with another foreign media organization.

All of this goes back to the speed of China’s development and the corresponding importance of research on China that accompanies this development.  From the American government to the American people, everyone is vying for the lead in developing research on China.  In addition to traditional Chinese research departments, recently a great number of new research centers and projects have sprung up.  Both public and private departments have all invested a large amount of manpower and funding and have spared no effort in developing research on China.  The universal consensus among Americans is: China’s development is progress for humanity, and it brings opportunities for each country; therefore it should not be resisted.  China’s development will transform certain features of humanity and also the political and economic international environment.  This is the result of America having chosen to carry out a strategy of cooperation in China’s opening and reform.  However, this could also have an effect on America’s long-term dominance of world affairs.  Misgivings regarding China’s influence is America’s biggest reason for the energetic research on China currently being done.

America’s superpower status is still not slackening.  So, what should we do?  Of course, we should do research on the world, do research on America, and in researching America, we should use the same serious approach that America uses to research China.  From an objective standpoint, regarding the international cooperation China seeks for its modernization and development, America already is, and will continue to be, our important cooperative partner.  We need to seriously study and research the experience and lessons that America has gained through the historical process of its founding and construction.  In the process of our country’s construction and development, America still frequently sets up obstructions, and it harbors more than a few misgivings regarding all the accompanying effects of China’s development.  This merits our recognition and is something we must overcome.  Therefore, researching America’s views on national development and views of its interests, realizing common positive factors in the development of the two countries, and mutually bearing appropriate global responsibilities are the significant tasks for us in the new century.  For these aspects, we need to place more importance on them, invest more, cultivate a new generation of research experts and authorities on international affairs and American issues, seriously research and study America and its strong points with an open mind, and go after our interests while avoiding trouble.  This is for the sake of the peaceful development of China and the world.

(The author is standing vice-president of the Fudan University International Issues Research Institute and is the head of the Fudan Center for American Studies)

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