Partisan rifts in China views
- By Mitchell Blatt
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 10, 2015
This could be because the older citizens remember the past when relations really were worse. During the Chinese Civil War, the United States supported the Nationalists, and the two countries didn't begin normalizing relations until Nixon's administration.
When Nixon visited China, he faced a lot of opposition from a skeptical public. The leading conservatives were opposed. William F. Buckley, then editor of the National Review, who was with Nixon on the visit, wrote, "We have lost - irretrievable - any remaining sense of moral mission in the world." The extreme right wing John Birch Society said it "humiliated" Americans.
However, Nixon was a strong anti-communist who ultimately saw that America having good relations with China was in the interests of both, and was able to go against the grain of entrenched opinion.
The problem for Republicans today is that too many are unwilling to challenge the fringe voters they need to win elections. In 2004 Thomas Frank wrote What's the Matter with Kansas? a book that argued that rural Republicans "vote against their economic interests."
In his analysis, Republicans win the south and rural areas by pushing social issues such as opposition to gay rights and immigration. After getting elected, Republicans then support trade deals and pro-business policies.
That contradiction seems to be surfacing as untenable now that gay marriage has been accepted by the Supreme Court, and the population of minorities in America is increasing. Donald Trump is capitalizing on fears of minorities, and the fact that Hispanic and Asian voting blocs - who voted for the Democratic Party at rates higher than 60 percent in the past two presidential elections - are making it impossible for the Republicans to win by relying solely on whites.
At the same time, Trump is also actively opposing free trade with foreign countries, putting him in conflict with the traditional Republican Party. Obama, on the other hand, actually supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal that opened up American trade with many countries in Asia and South America. Business interests have moved towards the Democratic Party in recent years for that reason.
Thus the Republicans face losing business, mounting losses among minorities, and seeing the importance of social issues diminish. Unless a new Republican comes along with new tactics, this trend will continue. Optimists hope someone like Marco Rubio, a 44-year-old child of Cuban immigrants, will be able to appeal to a broader base. As with Nixon's visit to China, the next Republican president - if there is one - will have to stand up to protectionists and xenophobic white groups on trade, immigration and other issues.
The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm
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