Evan Osnos in Beijing

Today, the New Yorker magazine China correspondent Evan Osnos gave a talk in Beijing, touching on many of the big issues that exist between the US and China. My summary of some of the major points is below.

Climate Change
The question was raised: isn’t it unfair that the developed world has polluted the world for years without consequence whereas developing countries must now sacrifice industrialization and economic growth for the sake of environmentalism?

To this, he responded that the question of fairness is in effect an outdated question; all countries are going to be affected equally by global warming. Arguably, America should bear much of the burden given all of the pollution it emitted and its status as the largest polluter in the world until recently, however to argue that America alone is responsible for solving global warming is simply an unrealistic suggestion.

Although Copenhagen was a failure, it revealed something about both America and China. Both are reluctant to sacrifice economic growth for the sake of environmental protection. He argues that instead of playing to their weaknesses, any viable solution should instead play to their strengths. Specifically, environmental technology can be developed in America and manufactured in China. This would utilize the relative strengths of America’s research and development capabilities and China’s manufacturing efficiency.


Taiwan
The question posed was an interesting one. China, Taiwan and the United States have a complicated relationship, and China often criticizes America for selling arms to Taiwan. However, it was reported that while America sold, say, 100 F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan it only supplied engines parts for 40, so while Taiwan had 100 jets, only a fraction could be in the air at one time. Is China overreacting, and is it time for the government to re-evaluate the way it approaches the Taiwan question?

Osnos is, by his own admission, not a Taiwan expert and certainly not an arms specialist. However, by his own evaluation Taiwan is quite far from the American consciousness. Sino-American relationship encompasses many complicated factors and among them, Taiwan is a very small part of it. Many American students are considering the very likely possibility that they will, in the course of their professional life, work in China. In addition, many congressmen are eager to avoid the Taiwan issue and to urge Taiwanese officials from causing an international crisis in order to manage much bigger and more pressing issues.


Reporting in China
When asked what were the biggest problems he encountered while reporting from China, he said that he feels that it is actually quite easy to be a reporter here. Of course, there still exist a few travel restrictions for foreign journalists, but the overall situation has improved dramatically (i.e. accessing information, officials, interviewing, travel, etc.)

In regard to the last point, I have heard a similar opinion from former New York Times reporter Howard French. According to French, reporting in China is hardly different than reporting elsewhere. All governments are, to a certain degree, antagonistic toward the media. Governments have a set interest in protecting their image and it is the role of media to find the shortcomings in government policy. It is the responsibility of a journalist to be relentless about seeking information, and many take pride in being something that governments are wary of. This is not to say that reporting in China is easy. All governments will make it difficult for journalists to obtain information, the methods may be different in China but it is by no means any worse than other countries.