By Dennis V. Hickey (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-29 07:32

History has an odd way of repeating itself. This observation applies with special force when one examines the role that China plays in America's presidential campaigns.

One way or another, the "China issue" often seems to find its way into election-year politics. This unfortunate trend continues to this day.

In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower, then the Republican candidate for president, assigned Richard M. Nixon, his party's vice-presidential candidate, the unpleasant task of using the success of the Chinese Revolution as a weapon to bludgeon the Democrats.

Nixon condemned the Truman administration for the "loss of 600 million people to communism", while never mentioning the inadequacies of Chiang Kai-shek.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy, the Democrat's candidate for president, turned the tables on Nixon. He claimed that if his party was responsible for the "loss of China", then Nixon's party must take responsibility for the "loss of Cuba."

But the two candidates also quarreled over America's commitment to defend Jinmen and Matsu, the Kuomintang-occupied islands located only several km offshore from Chinese mainland. Unlike Kennedy, who argued that the islands were militarily useless, Nixon declared that he would never "hand over one foot of the Free World" to China in the hope that this hard-hitting declaration might help garner votes.

To his credit, Nixon changed his approach to China during his second try for the presidency in 1968. He wrote in Foreign Affairs that the US must "come to grips with the reality of Chinawe simply cannot afford to have China forever outside the family of nations".

After his landmark journey to Beijing in 1972, President Nixon used the visit to help him secure his landslide victory over the Democrats that same year.

China became a campaign issue, albeit a minor one, during the 1980 presidential election. At the time, Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, declared that he would re-establish diplomatic relations with Taipei. The charismatic president not only failed to follow through on this promise, he also pledged to reduce arms sales to Taiwan in US-PRC Joint Communique on Arms Sales.

Reagan's cordial relations with China contributed to his reelection in 1984.

In 1992, Bill Clinton, then the Democrat candidate for president, savagely attacked President George H.W. Bush for promoting friendly ties with China. In a stunning reversal, however, Clinton endorsed the Bush administration's policy toward Beijing shortly after his election and eventually described China as America's "strategic partner".

Ironically, George W. Bush employed almost identical tactics when seeking to defeat then Vice-President Al Gore, during the 2000 presidential campaign. Bush pegged China as a "strategic competitor" of the US. Following the election, however, Bush proclaimed that China is the "most important" country in Asia and an "emerging marvel".

High-ranking administration officials now boast that relations between the two countries have never been better.

Unfortunately, the practice of "China-bashing" is once again rearing its ugly head and weaving its way into the fabric of an American presidential campaign.

In a scene eerily reminiscent of past electoral contests, Hillary Clinton is now calling on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games. She has even gone one step further than Representative Nancy Pelosi, US Speaker of the House, who requested that the president "consider" such a move.

But the proclamation is nothing more than a gimmick designed to embarrass the president, put his party on the defensive and help Clinton win support during her faltering presidential campaign.

The time has arrived for American politicians to refrain from the practice of "bashing" China as a means to secure votes. They would be well advised to remember that Washington needs Beijing's cooperation to cope with a wide range of pressing global problems, including terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental degradation, health issues, dwindling energy supplies and the continuing crises on the Korean Peninsula, to name just a few.

To be sure, China is very important strategically to the US. But there is more at stake here. One suspects that some politicians have no inkling of the significance that the Olympic Games hold for the ordinary Chinese people.

University students are enthusiastically volunteering to serve as guides and help make the Games a success. Shop keepers and taxi drivers are practicing foreign languages in the hope they will make visitors feel more welcome. Homes and businesses are being spruced up. And everyone here shares the common perception that politics should be kept separate from sporting events.

To call for a boycott of any part of the Olympic Games is not only irresponsible, it's an insult to the Chinese people.

The author is a Fulbright exchange professor at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing and professor of political science at Missouri State University

(China Daily 04/29/2008 page9)