by Mark Silva
The new American diplomat to China had some fairly undiplomatic things to say about expertise in the field of Chinese relations with the United States.
"Don't mistake me for being an expert, because I've been here for three months,'' said U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman, the former Republican governor of Utah who indeed has expertise in foreign affairs and speaks Mandarin.
"I've come to the conclusion that 'China expert' is kind of an oxymoron,'' Huntsman told reporters at a press briefing in Beijing, where President Barack Obama was making his first appearance this week. "And those who consider themselves to be China experts are kind of morons.
"You take what you can, you learn what you can, and you begin to pull all the pieces together, and still it kind of remains sometimes a somewhat confused environment,'' Huntsman said. At the same time, he suggested, relations between the two nations are as good as they have been in three decades.
"The relationship formally reached its 30th year this year,'' he said. "And I'd have to say that having followed it off and on for a good many of those 30 years, the president stepped off the plane in Shanghai in an environment that I'd have to characterize as being really at an all-time high in terms of the bilateral atmosphere -- a cruising altitude that is higher than any other time in recent memory, thereby able to kind of sail above some of the wind shears and the storms that have typically been part of the bilateral relationship.''
But, then, he's only a China expert.
(Photo of U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman at a town-hall styled event with President Barack Obama in Shanghai on Monday by Charles Dharapak / AP).
Comments
Dear Ambassador Huntsman ->
There are and always have been China experts and other Far East experts.
The first who comes to mind is the late Mike Mansfield (D-Montana), former Senate Majority Leader and the longest serving Ambassador to Japan, having secured appointments from a Democrat President Carter and a reaffirmation from Republican President Reagan.
The second China expert who comes on the radar was the late John Service, a true expert who was maligned by the alcoholic Senator Gene McCarthy in the 1950s.
If only the U.S. would have listened attentively to the advice that John Service gave to our policy-makers in the 1940s.
Therefore, Mr. Ambassador, it is unfortunate to our policy that you consider yourself an "oxymoron."
Posted by: skeptic | November 17, 2009 11:04 AM
Man this guy is pretty messed up?
He's no expert on China - speaks fluent Madarin, has watched the relationships between China and the USA for how many years ( a good many of the 30 years of the US China formal relationship)??
Claims the Obama administrations foreign relationship with China is the best ever! but......
Only morons think they know alot about China? Experts on China? How does he come up with his conclusions then?
Is he the "moron" he speaks of on not?
Posted by: springfield | November 17, 2009 11:07 AM
Been in China a few years. True, they live in a different universe, but with an open mind and good observational skills, it is possible to get into their heads and hearts
Posted by: Bob Burns | November 17, 2009 11:14 AM
Democrats have been close to China ever since, I believe, the Clinton election since the Chinese contributed so much to the Democratic campaign.
Obama is in China, hopefully, to learn from the Chinese how the capitalist system works since the Chinese adapted to that system so well when they learned that the socialistic system does not work.
Wish they sent someone who would understand what they are saying.
Posted by: Lou | November 17, 2009 12:27 PM
Well, to really KNOW a country, you have to think like them, and you have to be able to claim an insider status. Especially in the xenophobic, insider-mentality dominated China, where there is still an underlying requirement of social altruism, you can't expect to really get into the game, unless you look like them, speak like them, think like them and profess a willingness to die to defend the nation. Otherwise you are just another foreigner, there to do business.
So, of course there are experts; they just probably won't serve the US.
Which is normal. There are no real US experts for China either.
Posted by: === | November 17, 2009 1:46 PM
Wind shear, not wind sheer!
Posted by: karthik | November 17, 2009 3:59 PM