Obama and Romney indulge in debatable accusations

Outsourcing

With US unemployment at more than 8 percent, the candidates have accused each other of outsourcing jobs to China.

Obama has repeatedly attacked Bain Capital as a pioneer of outsourcing, while Romney blames Obama for sending millions of jobs to China and India during the past four years.

Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, said there will be less negative talk about outsourcing after the election. "I think they know outsourcing is inevitable. No one can stop it. This (stance) is mostly for election consumption," he said.

"We can't and shouldn't try to keep jobs that are not cost-effective in the United States. In China, some jobs are going to cheaper countries such as Vietnam," he added in response to Obama's campaign promise to give tax breaks to US companies that keep jobs at home.

Meanwhile, Jagdish Bhagwati, professor of economics and law at Columbia University, has repeatedly criticized Obama's outsourcing rhetoric. "The United States under the Obama administration has clearly shown that it's open to protectionism," he said.

"He (Obama) is beginning to sound like Lou Dobbs," said Bhagwati, referring to the Fox Business Network host known for his on-air rants against US companies that outsource jobs.

Positive notes

While US politicians have often criticized China for stealing jobs, a recent study by Rhodium Group in New York showed that the 600 Chinese direct investment transactions made in the US between 2000 and 2012 support 27,000 jobs today compared with 10,000 five years ago. And the figure does not include indirect job creation or the jobs created by US companies with minority Chinese investment.

The report also predicted that if the US can attract $150 billion of Chinese outbound foreign direct investment by 2020, 300,000 US citizens will on the payroll of Sino-US affiliates. Rhodium expects total Chinese outbound FDI to hit $1 trillion to $2 trillion by 2020.

Japanese companies created very few jobs for US citizens in the 1980s, but now they employ 700,000, according to the report.

Meanwhile at a local level, US state governors and city mayors have been pragmatic, making frequent visits to China to court investment.

Michael Bell, the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, one of the election's key battleground states, said recently that he sees advantages in the relationships Toledo is building with China.

"Last weekend I was in Chicago, I was watching the city of Wuhan making business deals with Chicago. And I'm watching other places throughout the United States creating businesses with China," he said.

Meanwhile, Steve Orlins believed the US election and China's 18th Party Congress, both scheduled for early November, will present the leaders of both countries with a unique opportunity to reset the bilateral relationship, by focusing on solutions rather than the legacy of 20th century conflict.

"We must ask our leaders to abandon the campaign rhetoric and focus instead on a future of shared prosperity and cooperation," he said.

Contact the reporter at chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn

Tan Yingzi in Washington, Ariel Tung in New York, Deng Zhangyu and Cheng Guangjin in Beijing contributed to this story.