China and the Candidates: Mitt Romney
December 4, 2007
Throughout the country, people are eager to hear Mitt Romney's potentially defining speech on Thursday. By the end of the week, there will be thousands of in-depth analyses on thousands of websites worldwide.
Given that this is China Connection, the question of the day isn't how Romney's personal faith will play out in his presidency, it's how Mitt Romney's policies will influence our relationship with China?
Here's what he has to say. After returning from Japan, South Korea, and China, Romney was extremely impressed by the competitiveness of the Chinese. He told National Review:
China "will be a more powerful economic competitor than we in America recognize. They are hard working, market oriented, and smart. They even have some lower taxes in some areas than we do. Bottom line: They are competing to win. Second, it is important for us as a nation to reach out to China and to chart out a course that is consistent with a free economy and a free society. This goal must be consistent with our own principles." ---Mitt Romney to Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review, after returning from a trip to Asia in 2006.
Basically, this statement conveys two of Romney's major points when considering China. The U.S. shouldn't underestimate the emerging economic power China is becoming, but at the same time, we shouldn't compromise our own principles when dealing with China.
So, what does this dynamic look like in a practical sense? Judging from Romney's work at Bain Capital, we should probably expect a strong economic ties to China, which would ideally result in the potential for more U.S. goods to be sold into a robust Chinese market. For Romney, failure to engage with China would have a high price to the American economy, as he states on his website:
"Trade and commerce with these huge new economies can further strengthen our economy and propel our growth. If America fails to act, we will be eclipsed." --Issue Watch, Romney website
This means that protectionism and high trade barriers would definitely not be part of his agenda, but at the same time, fair trade and intellectual property right protection would also be key goals. As he said in one speech:
"Protectionism would virtually guarantee that America would become a second-tier economy in a couple of decades, with a second-class standard of living . . . At the same time we have to make sure that the rules of free trade are fair. It's time to make sure China's markets, for instance, are open to our goods. And it's time to sure they enforce our intellectual property rights as well as they enforce their own." -- Romney speech at Detroit Economic Club Feb. 2, 2007
Romney's attitude towards China is definitely not without critics, like Duncan Hunter, who has been one of the most vocal opponents of the current U.S.-China trade policy. Hunter most recently criticized Romney for not opposing a deal between his former company, Bain Capital, and China's Huawei Technology.
Other critics say that he "made 250 million dollars by sending good jobs to China" while at Bain Capital, and accused him of investing money in companies that outsource American jobs. (But I hardly think Romney is the only presidential contender who has made money from companies with investments in China.)
Whether China is a fertile ground for more trade opportunities and economic growth, or an evil Communist country that's robbing Americans of their good jobs and educational resources, remains a topic for the voters to decide. But judging from his past statements and business transactions, Romney definitely seems ready to strengthen economic ties with China.
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