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Sino-U.S. ties hit new snag over Internet issues

Date: Sunday, 24-January-2010

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Web censorship and alleged hacking by China, asunderscored by Google's recent complaint, havefurther soured relations between the nations.
By Paul Richter and David Pierson
The Los Angeles Times
January 23, 2010

Reporting from Washington and Beijing - TheU.S.-Chinese relationship, already being testedby rising trade tension during President Obama'sfirst year, has been rocked by new turbulence asthe administration has sought to prove itscommitment to human rights around the world.

The two governments are at odds over planned U.S.arms sales to Taiwan, American overtures to Tibetand, now, the issue of Internet freedom that hasbeen vividly raised by allegations against China from Google.

After Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clintoncomplained in Cold War terms on Thursday aboutChina's Internet intrusions, Chinese officialsshot back Friday that her remarks were "harmfulto Sino-American relations" and demanded thatU.S. officials "respect the truth."

The exchange set off a diplomatic shuffle. TopU.S. and Chinese officials have huddled in aseries of hastily convened meetings in Washingtonsince Clinton's speech to discuss the Googleissue and "the broader aspects of ourrelationship," Philip J. Crowley, chief StateDepartment spokesman, said Friday.

Some experts believe that Clinton may have beentoo provocative when, in Churchillian tones, shelamented that "a new information curtain isdescending over much of the world." But herremarks, in a major prepared address, highlightedthe Obama administration's hardening approach.

It comes at a time when Beijing has beenincreasingly resistant to foreign pressure. Inaddition to its stern posture on Tibet andTaiwan, China has rebuffed calls to revalue itscurrency and support a global climate change treaty.

"We're in for tough sledding for the rest of theyear," predicted David M. Lampton, director ofChina studies at Johns Hopkins University'sSchool of Advanced International Studies.

Diplomats and analysts worry that the expandingarray of disputes could damage chances of Chinesecooperation on key U.S. strategic issues, such assanctions against Iran, North Korea's nuclearprogram and the international effort in Afghanistan.

Analysts said the new frictions could affectcooperation between the two nations' militaries,an initiative announced by President Obama in avisit to China in November. They also couldprompt the Chinese to rethink plans to take partin high-level meetings, such as Obama's plannednuclear security conference this spring.

Last year, Obama administration officials, eagerto begin their relationship with China on apositive note, focused their early discussions onareas of mutual interest while putting offtougher issues. But the relationship took a turnfor the worse, in the Chinese view, after theU.S. imposed duties on Chinese tires and steelpipes. Sensitive issues, such as the U.S.relationship with Taiwan and Tibet, continued to stack up.

Meanwhile, the administration has been criticizedby human rights advocates for not pushing moreforcefully in its dealings with China and other countries, such as Iran.

The criticism comes as Obama has faced otherquestions concerning international diplomacy, andit coincides with the approach of midtermelections. Meanwhile, the Chinese, too, havebegun to think about a big political event: their2012 party congress, when a new leader will be chosen.

"With an election period coming up, nobody wantsto appear unduly solicitous or weak," Lamptonsaid. The debate over Internet freedom capturedworld attention last week when Google complainedof attacks on its network from China and said itmight shut down its Chinese-language searchengine if the government didn't stop requiring that it censor searches.

But Clinton's speech was the first in which theadministration suggested that Internet freedomwould be a key plank of its foreign policy.

Clinton specifically criticized the Chinese andothers for Internet censorship. And she suggestedthat defense against cyber attacks was a coreissue of mutual defense for the United States and its allies.

"This was definitely a shot across the bow," saidCharles A. Kupchan, a National Security Councilaide in the Clinton administration. "This is alevel of rhetoric vis-a-vis China that is new."

The initial Chinese reaction was to try to playdown the speech, portraying the issue as a narrow commercial dispute.

But the Foreign Ministry made an about-faceFriday, saying in a statement that the U.S.needed to "respect the truth and to stop usingthe so-called Internet freedom question to level baseless accusations."

Meanwhile, U.S. officials are expected to soonapprove the sale of billions of dollars worth ofmissile defense batteries and helicopters to Taiwan.

Obama is also expected to meet this year with theDalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet,whom the Chinese consider a separatist. Lastyear, Obama declined to meet him, sparkingcondemnations from human rights advocates in the United States.

Kupchan, who is now with the Council on ForeignRelations, said that while he does not believethe two countries are headed for a major crisis,"there has been a certain amount of brinkmanship."

"We'll probably see in a week or two whetherwe're in for a tougher period, or whether they'reuncomfortable with how the tensions have risen soquickly, and step back," he said.

paul.richter@latimes.com
david.pierson@latimes.com