By Francis C. W. Fung, PH.D.
The US media, which accustomed to confrontational cold war
diplomacy, has been slow to recognize the signs of world harmony
diplomacy on the rise. The profit-driven, corporate and military
complex dominated American media looks sluggish when faced with the
tide of win-win mutual development between nations.
It remains to be seen if the US media will finally learn world
harmony diplomacy and move forward to the 21st century.
Besides the overbearing American foreign policy, the
condescending attitude in the media for the past 50 years, is also
to blame for the mistrust created between the States and other
nations. A change of heart in American media will certainly help to
create a better world understanding for the US government to
continue practicing world harmony diplomacy.
The following are major current event stories showing signs of
harmony diplomacy on the rise drastically under reported by the US
media.
On Wednesday May 23, 2007, Chinese and American officials ended
a key economic dialogue in Washington in agreement.
The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary of Treasury, Henry
Paulson and China's Vice Premier Wu Yi.
During the two day Second Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), top
economic officials from the two countries discussed topics covering
areas of service, investment, transparency, energy and environment
as well as growth balance and innovation.
As witnessed by the fact sheet jointly issued at the closing,
the two sides reached consensus on how to move forward on financial
services, civil aviation, energy and environment as well as signing
a number of specific agreements.
One cannot help but notice that the tone of the fact sheet shows
great diplomacy at work. This consensus is surprising because of
the perennial trade friction between the two nations, particularly
in light of the climate of the China bashing, which was resulted
from the recent Congressional trade protectionism mentality.
In contrast to past foibles, President George W. Bush made the
correct diplomatic choice for US-China relations, as well as for
world harmony.
At a White House press conference, Bush said that the just
concluded US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue is "important" and
there has been some progress achieved at the dialogue, stating that
"this is an important dialogue. And it's one that I thank the
Chinese government for engaging in."
Bush also met with Vice Premier Wu Yi in the White House Oval
Office and said he appreciates China's willingness "to work with
strategic dialogues in order to put in place the type of measures
that reflect a complex relationship."
To set the proper tone for the consultation and consensus, the
principle negotiators from both sides were careful in their
statements. "Thanks for the careful attention and joint efforts
from both sides, the second meeting of the strategic dialogue
achieved great success," said Wu. The economic and trade
relationship between China and the US is one of the most
complicated in today's world, she said. The SED provides an
excellent platform for both sides to "further understanding and
trust in terms of strategic issues."
Vice Premier Wu added "Equal consultation, cooperation and
win-win have become the overall situation and defining nature of
China-US relations, both being stakeholders and constructive
partners."
"Politicizing economic and trade issues is absolutely
unacceptable, since it is of no help but will make the situation
more complicated, harm bilateral economic and trade relations or
even cause serious negative impact on the progress of overall
China-US ties," she added.?
On his part, Paulson said that US and China both understood that
"getting the economic relationship right is vital not only to our
people, but to the world economy." Paulson also said, "The purpose
of this on going dialogue is to have candid discussions and find
ways to ease, rather than increase tensions."?
"Now and then, the peace of the world and the progress of the
world required close cooperation between the two peoples of the US
and China" said Henry Kissinger at the opening of the dialogue.
"The most advanced industrialized country and the country that is
growing at the fastest rate have the unique opportunity to set an
example for the rest of the world of cooperation and vision."
The consensus reached through the SED consultation clearly
demonstrated the merit of practicing harmony diplomacy. Harmony is
fostered by acceptance, respect, equity and humility. This type of
no fault, win-win consultation can lead to complementary solutions
between any two nations. The SED fact sheet may serve as a model of
harmony diplomacy with humility, practiced by two great nations
with wisdom.
Details of the six party talks on the nuclear issue of the
Korean peninsular coming out on April 11, 2007 are very
encouraging. It clearly shows that the two strong contending sides
are giving ground and reached some consensus through long painful
discussions and consultations. This is how harmony works through
discussions, consultations and consensus. Until the announcement,
the accord all seemed but impossible. Not so long ago President
Bush called "North Korea as part of the 'Axis of Evil'." From World
Harmony Renaissance perspective this event may spark a series of
events that signal the beginning of harmony at East Asia.
By implementing the Nuclear Disarmament Pact, US, China, Russia,
Japan, South Korea will have to help North Korea recover. That
means major countries across both sides of the pacific will work
together for mutual development. North East Asia development has a
lot of potential. The Accord calls for "Within 30 days: Five
separate working groups meet on denuclearizing, normalizing
US-North Korea relations, normalizing of North Korea-Japan
relations, economy and energy cooperation, and peace and security
in Northeast Asia."
Be what it may, this proved the importance of harmony diplomacy
to give the fair historical perspective and the whole aftermath of
the cold war era. The need for mutual development will pave the way
for a more harmonious world.
(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2007)
