By Shannon Tiezzi
Should Hillary Clinton become president in 2016, her negative reputation in China might be a problem.
Over at the Wall Street Journal, Brookings Institution analyst Michael O’Hanlon looks at Hillary Clinton’s China policy. Clinton is presumed to be the frontrunner to be the Democratic candidate for president in 2016, although she has so far declined to confirm or deny that she will run. As O’Hanlon notes, the China policy of a hypothetical President Hillary Clinton deserves our attention, particularly as Clinton focused much of her attention on the Asia-Pacific region during her time as Secretary of State.
Many analysts have noted Clinton’s unusual emphasis on the Asia-Pacific, even for an administration that prided itself on its new focus on the region. Clinton was seen as one of the architects of the “pivot to Asia” — indeed, the policy was heralded by her October 2011 Foreign Policy article entitled “America’s Pacific Century.” Clinton was also the public face of the pivot (later dubbed the “rebalance”), traveling frequently to Asia and staking out American positions on regional issues. Most famously, in a speech at the 2010 ASEAN Regional Forum she declared U.S. national interests to be at stake in the South China Sea disputes. Clinton’s role in U.S. Asia-Pacific policy was so influential that Elizabeth Economy pointed to her departure as one of the major factors hindering the pivot to Asia in Obama’s second term.
Given this background, O’Hanlon notes that Clinton’s Asia-Pacific strategy, and particularly her thoughts on China, deserves more attention. He points to a “firmness” in Clinton’s remarks on China. O’Hanlon quotes from Clinton’s recent memoir, Hard Choices, in which Clinton notes the “lukewarm reception” President Obama received during his 2009 visit to China. Clinton’s emphasis on China’s military provocations, especially in the South China Sea, suggests that she agrees with those who wonder “whether we were seeing a new phase in the relationship, with an ascendant and assertive China no longer hiding its resources and enhanced military capabilities.” O’Hanlon writes that Clinton’s “respect for China and awareness of how assertive it can be—and the stakes for the U.S.–bode well for how she would handle Beijing as president.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat