Posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called for an “economic surge” (MSNBC) on Wednesday. “Our surge has succeeded in Iraq militarily. Now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones,” he said. He also said the United States needs to “open new markets” to its products.
ENERGY CHOICES: Policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin defended McCain’s “all of the above” energy policy plan (Chicago Sun-Times) in a memo on Wednesday, saying McCain “does support aggressive development of alternative and renewable energy sources. He will support the development of alcohol-based fuels, establish a permanent research and development tax credit to support energy innovation, and will encourage an even-handed system of tax credits for renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and biomass.”
CHINA: NPR’s Mike Shuster says U.S. policy toward China has not figured prominently in the presidential campaign so far.
Posted in China, Economy, Energy Policy, General Election, Morning Update | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 by Joanna Klonsky
Ahead of the Beijing Olympic games beginning next week, a public opinion study from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs looks at American attitudes toward rising China. The study, released Monday, surveyed 1,500 Americans around the country over two weeks in July. Some of the report’s key findings include:
- 64 percent of Americans favor U.S. cooperation and engagement with China, while 33 percent said the United States should work to inhibit China’s rise.
- 32 percent said they would support a U.S. military response if China were to invade Taiwan.
- The study finds Americans “wary” of Chinese economic advantage. 52 percent opposed U.S. financial or technological support for helping China or India cope with climate change.
To read the whole report, click here (PDF).
To learn about the presidential candidates’ approaches to U.S. policy toward rising China, see this CFR.org Issue Tracker on the topic.
Posted in China, General Election | 0 Comments »
Posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will unveil his “New Energy for America” plan (Chicago Sun-Times) on Monday in Lansing, Michigan. Under the plan, Obama would grant a rebate to help Americans cope with high gas prices, seek to create five million new “green jobs,” and eliminate U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil in ten years, says the Obama campaign.
The Democratic Party will call the Iraq war a “strategic blunder” in its 2008 convention platform, NBC reports.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said President Bush should avoid confrontation with the Chinese during his trip to Beijing for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. “You don’t want to go over there and insult the Chinese,” he said. “It would not be good for our relations.”
Posted in China, Energy Policy, General Election, Iraq, Morning Update | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 by Joanna Klonsky
Stephen Bosworth, Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts Unive
rsity, laid out some key issues for the next president regarding U.S. policy toward Asia in a speech before the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Monday evening.
Bosworth said the 2008 presidential campaign has dealt “more with foreign policy than most presidential elections have” during his lifetime. He said he hopes that the candidates will commit “to a process of education” for themselves and voters on foreign policy.
• He contended Asia presents “some good choices” for the next few U.S. administrations as far as policy. But Bosworth, a former ambassador to both the Philippines and South Korea, warned against viewing the challenges of an ascendant Asia as a threat. “We are much better off if we try to treat these challenges coming from these rising powers as opportunities,” he said.
• He said the decline of the U.S. public education system and the retirement of workers in the baby boomer generation threaten U.S. competitiveness with Asia. Bosworth also said the deterioration of the U.S. physical infrastructure has placed the United States at a significant disadvantage. He noted Asian governments “are always investing in physical and human infrastructure in a way that we have not been doing in some time.”
• Bosworth recommended that the United States be more involved in the building of new multilateral institutions with Asia. “This is going be one of the key challenges the next U.S. administration is going to have to face. Do we want to be a part of this Asian institutional architecture,” asked Bosworth, or should the United States “stand aside” and let Asia develop its institutions “on their own?”
Posted in China, General Election | 0 Comments »
Posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 by campaign2008
In a statement on Wednesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) congratulated Israel on its 60th Independence Day. “The United States will always stand with Israel to ensure it can defend itself against threat of terrorism and violence, from as close as Gaza and as far as Tehran,” Obama said.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized the governments of China, Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, North Korea and Saudi Arabia for religious repression and promised to make religious freedom “a subject of great importance” in his foreign policy as president. He also pledged to create an inter-agency task force to combat human trafficking (CNN).
Posted in China, General Election, Iran, Morning Update, Palestinian-Israeli | 0 Comments »
Posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) signed on Thursday as a cosponsor to the Fair Currency Act, a bill aimed at penalizing China and other countries that manipulate currency. Obama said he was cosponsoring the act because China has been “dumping goods into American markets while failing to open its own; violating intellectual property rights; and grossly undervaluing its currency thereby giving its goods another unfair advantage.”
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) offered her support for that bill on Wednesday (WSJ).
Media General looks at the views of North Carolina voters on trade policy.
Posted in China, General Election, Morning Update, Trade | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 by campaign2008
Nearly one week before the Pennsylvania primaries, which have featured economic and globalization issues, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Monday detailed her plan for “stepped up enforcement of trade laws.” Her plan includes numerous measures to crack down on what she called China’s “unfair trade practices.”
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) also called for a tough posture toward China on trade. He told steelworkers in Pittsburgh: “What we need to do is just be better bargainers and say ‘Look, here’s the bottom line: You guys keep on manipulating your currency, we are going to start shutting off access to some of our markets.”
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet with all three presidential contenders during his trip to the United States this week, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Posted in China, Morning Update, Trade | 0 Comments »
Posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 by campaign2008
“It took the Bush administration seven years and more than 3 million lost manufacturing jobs to finally permit U.S. anti-subsidy laws to be applied on imports from China. But that decision could be revoked at any time. We know we can’t rely on the whims of the Bush administration to support U.S. manufacturers. That’s why I’m calling for changing our laws to send China and other non-market economies a simple message: ‘If you subsidize your exports and hurt our manufacturers, you’ll pay the price.’”
–Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), in a speech before the Association of American Manufacturers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Monday.
“Seeing the living standards of the Chinese people improve is a good thing – g
ood because we want a stable China, and good because China can be a powerful market for American exports. But too often, China has been competing in ways that are tilting the playing field. It’s not just that China is following the path taken by so many other countries before it, and dumping goods into our market while not opening their own markets, something I’ve spoken out against. It’s not just that they’re violating intellectual property rights. They’re also grossly undervaluing their currency, and giving their goods yet another unfair advantage.”
–Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), also speaking to the Association of American Manufacturers Monday.
Posted in China, Quote of the Day, Trade | 0 Comments »
Posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) both discussed some of their foreign policy views as they relate to religion Sunday night in separate appearances on CNN’s Compassion Forum. Clinton said U.S. policy toward China has been “incoherent” and reiterated her call to President Bush to boycott the Olympic opening ceremony. She also said as president she would attempt to “rebuild America’s moral authority and demonstrate our commitment to compassionate humanitarianism.”
Obama praised the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as “one of the success stories of this administration.” He also discussed his time growing up in Indonesia, a largely Muslim country. “What it taught me, and what it still teaches me, as I think about foreign policy now, is that Islam can be compatible with the modern world,” Obama said.
Clinton will outline a plan Monday to improve U.S. trade enforcement, particularly with regard to China. “We need solutions to fix our trade laws, build a strong manufacturing base, and stand up to China and say that unsafe toys and unfair currency practices are unacceptable,” Clinton will say in a speech before the Alliance for American Manufacturing in Pittsburgh. Excerpts were provided to Reuters.
Posted in China, Morning Update, Trade | 0 Comments »
Posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 by campaign2008
“If Chinese policies and practices do not change, I would not attend the opening ceremonies. It does no service to the Chinese government, and certainly no service to the people of China, for the United States and other democracies to pretend that the suppression of rights in China does not concern us. It does, will and must concern us.”
–Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in a statement Thursday on the controversy surrounding the Beijing Olympics.
Posted in China, General Election, Quote of the Day | 0 Comments »
