Reaction to Tiananmen Square

I think President Bush's reaction to the Tiananmen Square incident was reasonable because he did not want to lose China as an ally against the Soviets or as a trade partner. He also had to appease public calls for action against the Chinese because of the public attention at the time. The incident did not affect his run for reelection, so his actions served that purpose as well. Turning against the Chinese or imposing harsh sanctions would not have been effective because of their governments focus on control. The US would only be further isolating citizens in China if they tried to punish the government, which would not have appeased the call for democracy. The US could not have influenced the Chinese to be kinder to their citizens because that may undermine their power, which they would not willingly do.

Clinton Answers

1. Clinton had little background on China and had lobbied in Taiwan before becoming president.
2. She said it could cause US companies to lose out to foreign competition in the toy, shoe, and other industries because of increased duties.
3. Clinton offered a backing off of Taiwan deals for an improvement in human rights.
4. Congress wanted human rights, arms proliferation, and trade conditions on MFN status renewal, but dropped it when Clinton said he would take care of it with an executive order. This consisted of just better human rights conditions for renewal of MFN status. China wanted more from the MFN, but did not speak up about that.
5. US companies entered China very quickly and invested 6700 new contracts in China of the 83,437 total signed. Japan had beaten the US to China and US companies were then trying to catch up.
6. Military sanctions are imposed when M11 missile sales to Pakistan were confirmed, which was opposed by some higher technology companies.
7. North Korea was withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, so Clinton is less confrontational with China.
8. The Clinton administration remained neutral, but gave the IOC information on human rights violations in China.
9. The new policy is opening up talks on many topics and talk about other topics they had not discussed before like the military.
10. This would make the US weaker because they are weaken their stances in China.

New Market in China

President Carter opening up trade with China and giving them Most Favored Nation status was good for both the US and China. Trading with the US allowed new technology to flow into China that China wouldn't have been able to develop on their own. It also allowed China to eventually compete for business in US markets when their technology and industry picked up. The United States opened up a market of over a billion people that it could trade with. This also helped them fight communism by improving capitalism worldwide with increased trade and more markets to buy and sell to.

US China Negotiations

The US was in a difficult position negotiating with China because of the bigger stakes of their negotiating. China had not been open to the west and Mao was close to death, so they were able to be bold in negotiations, while the US feared an unpopular settlement or backlash from a failed negotiation. This helped China in the beginning to seemingly gain Taiwan, but the US overall won the negotiations by being vague enough to successfully open relations without fully conceding anything meaningful. The obscure wording used helped the US push off any problems they ran into in negotiations to the future after relations had improved.

Problems In China

The problems facing China in the future are concerning for them because they are difficult to solve and are not going away. One major problem is the lack of fresh water in China, which has 22% of the worlds people and 8% of the worlds water. Water is needed for agriculture and industry to feed the populace and provide improved job opportunities. China's population will not decline very quickly and there are already tens of thousands of protests each year. It will be difficult for China to provide water for farming while continuing to supply water to growing cities and industrial regions. China needs to manage the water in their country or they could face more discontent if water supplies start to run out.

US Relationship With China

In the future  it would be best for the United States to develop a working relationship with China that benefits both countries economically. The US relies on goods produced in China and creating a strong partnership is the best policy for the US going forward. It is better for the US to work constructively with China than to challenge them on many issues we disagree on. As China's economy improves the global economy will also grow, which benefits the US and should drive our policy there. The problems we have with China's actions and the problems they have with us do not outway the positives of open trade and growth in both economies in the future.

Digital Citizenship and Creative Commons Project

The Digital Citizenship project was a great experience in creating content that expresses what we learned in a different style than a traditional class. By actively researching and creating content about digital citizenship I was able to learn in an active way and demonstrate that understanding through my work. Working in teams with different people I had not worked with before was a good experience that taught me how to work in groups and bounce ideas off others. We all had a goal of creating the end product our group was assigned and we worked together to reach that end. In the end our class created a very good resource by working together and focusing on exploring the topic through research and creation. The Creative Commons potion of the project was also informative. I interviewed a student who creates his own music and uploads it to some websites. He used Creative Commons and shared his views on how it allows him to share his work with others and remix other's work into something new using Creative Commons. He had a different perspective as someone who has used CC licenses to his advantage.