March 12, 2007
China Notes 20
Friends,
For anyone who has their heart set on peaceful co-existence between
China and the United States, visiting a bookstore can be a sobering
and even discouraging experience. A large and apparently growing
number of books have titles like China: Friend or Foe?
(DeBurgh), America’s Coming War with China (Carpenter),
The Coming China Wars (Navarro), The Great Wall:
China Against the World (Lovell), and the rather wordy China
Shakes the World: A Titan’s Rise and Troubled Future—and
the Challenge for America (Kynge). Similar themes are also
common in popular magazines. For example, the lurid red cover
of a recent issue of Time (January 22, Asian edition)
announces: “China—Dawn of a New Dynasty: With the
US tied down in Iraq, a new superpower has arrived. Here’s
how to deal with it.” Even glancing over such titles tends
to create a sense that conflict is inevitable and possibly imminent.
For the moment, relations between the United States and China
are relatively harmonious, at least in contrast to U.S. relations
with Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. However, there is an underlying
level of chronic conflict over issues such as trade and economic
policy, religious freedom, intellectual property rights, protectionism,
and Taiwan. Furthermore, as the titles above suggest, there seems
to be a wider popular process in which Americans are sizing up
China and trying to decide if ultimately it will be friend or
foe—a nation with which we can do business or an opponent
in a new struggle for international dominance. Of course, this
process is mutual. There are similar books in Chinese stores reflecting
a similar process in which Chinese people are sizing up the United
States. In both nations, a struggle of perceptions is currently
going on, and the results will determine how hard each nation
tries to work out individual problems in the Sino-American relationship
as they arise. If the consensus is that we should view each other
as potential partners, it is more likely that we will make serious
and sustained efforts to work problems out; if the consensus is
that we are foes, we will more quickly resort to tougher measures.
Blessed are the peacemakers
One of the emphases of PC(USA) mission work is to work toward
peace and reconciliation around the world, and our long history
in China (well over a century and a half) gives us a special responsibility
to work for peaceful ties with that nation. While one aspect of
our peacemaking work is to help re-establish peace and work toward
reconciliation in situations where violent conflict has already
broken out. Another important aspect is trying to head off trouble
before it begins—by building fair and balanced perceptions
before conflict hardens negative perceptions to the point that
constructive relationships are difficult to build.
One aspect of Presbyterian peace-building in China is placing
Presbyterian personnel here, giving more Chinese a chance to base
their perceptions on actual Americans rather than on characters
from Hollywood films or images from news broadcasts. Admittedly,
the number of Chinese who will have direct contact with a Presbyterian
in China is limited. Yet, most of the personnel the PC(USA) places
in China are teachers working in teacher-training colleges, so
we not only have direct and sustained contact with literally thousands
of students, but also have indirect impact on the students who
our own students will eventually teach.
A second aspect of our role here involves helping Americans to
get a balanced and normal picture of China, a picture that supplements
and balances impressions created by the media, which often filter
out the normal and letting only the dramatic and extreme (and
usually negative) come through. Given that religious freedom issues
are the main points of irritation in the Sino-American relationship,
it is particularly important that Americans have a balanced and
accurate view of what Christian life is normally like in China.
To this end, it is helpful to have Presbyterians involved with
Chinese Christians and churches in a sustained and ongoing way.
The role that one denomination can play in a relationship between
two large and powerful nations is admittedly modest, but our long
history and strong network of relationships gives Presbyterians
the opportunity to make a contribution exceeding our demographic
size. To the extent that we can help Chinese people build fair
and accurate perceptions of Americans, and Americans of Chinese,
we increase the chances that these two world powers will try to
work with each other to deal with whatever problems we face. We
are called to live in the faith that the “coming war”
of which the book titles above speak is not inevitable; we are
also called to build the foundations of a constructive relationship
that makes such conflict avoidable and even improbable. “An
ounce of prevention….”
Interpretation assignment
We will be in the United States for interpretation assignment
from July through October this year. We’ll participate in
the New Wilmington Mission Conference in July and in Mission Challenge
’07 being organized by the GAC offices for October. During
September we are available to visit congregations, and would be
more than happy to do so. If you would like us to visit, let us
know. As always, we can be reached at donsnow48@hotmail.com
or donsnow48@gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing many of you later this year.
God’s peace,
Don and Wei Hong
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 244 |
