Republicans criticizing Obama for not being tougher on China's human-rights abuses are delusional about where America stands in today's global power dynamic, says Zachary Karabell.
The saga of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has become the latest source of tension between China and the United States. And the way that story has entered domestic American politics sheds disturbing light on how in denial the United States remains about the state of the world in the early 21st century.
Since at least the time of Woodrow Wilson, the United States has approached the world with a particular moral framework. Of course, you can find strains of morality well before that, but the modern lens owes much to an early-20th-century spirit that saw Americans championing the rights of individuals to freedom of expression, religion, and democracy, as well as the right of nations to be free from the threat of invasion by rapacious competitors. Americans frequently violated those principles in practice, but they remained woven into the tapestry of American foreign policy.
For every realist like Henry Kissinger who treated human rights as secondary to maintaining the international order, there was a Jimmy Carter who placed human rights at the center of his foreign policy agenda. Historians will note, correctly, that the actual differences in foreign policy were less sharp than the rhetorical ones, but at no point could an administration abjure concern for human rights altogether.
In the second half of the 20th century, American foreign policy unfolded in the context of overwhelming power and competition with the Soviet Union. The Soviets, with their gulags and political prisoners, were seen as human-rights violators par excellence. While America could do little to ease the plight of Soviet dissenters, it could present itself as a beacon of hope and freedom compared to the harsh authoritarianism of the Soviets. As for the Chinese under Mao and the Cultural Revolution, that regime was seen as even more beyond the pale, but was less a focus of American policy. In both cases, there was little in the way of trade or economic links. There was only rivalry and the threat of war. A firm commitment to human rights was part of a global struggle, carried few costs, and allowed the United States to stand on the side of angels.For every realist like Henry Kissinger who treated human rights as secondary to maintaining the international order, there was a Jimmy Carter who placed human rights at the center of his foreign policy agenda. Historians will note, correctly, that the actual differences in foreign policy were less sharp than the rhetorical ones, but at no point could an administration abjure concern for human rights altogether. , AFP / Getty Images ; Tom Wargacki, WireImage / Getty Images
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