A Job Well Done

Alright, I'll bite, and take maybe the most unpopular position in the blogosphere these days and actually support the president: I think he did a remarkably good job handling the whole China-Olympics-human rights issue.

Even though his remarks in China, and the more substantial speech he made in Thailand might be drowned out in the while pomp-and-circumstance, they're worth taking a look.

In both, President Bush made a point of praising the Chinese people, their culture, and their amazing, unknown-in-history achievements of economic growth:

Tonight the Olympic torch will light the home of an ancient civilization with a grand history. Thousands of years ago, the Chinese people developed a common language and unified a great nation. China became the center for art and literature, commerce and philosophy. China advanced the frontiers of knowledge in medicine, astronomy, navigation, engineering, and many other fields.

But in both speeches, he also made sure to reference China's human rights problems, in a way that will get attention, but doesn't provoke a confrontation:

I have spoken clearly and candidly and consistently with China's leaders about our deep concerns over religious freedom and human rights. I have met repeatedly with Chinese dissidents and religious believers. The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings. So America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents and human rights advocates and religious activists. We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly, and labor rights not to antagonize China's leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential. We press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs. As Chinese scientist Xu Liangying has said: "Human nature is universal and needs to pursue freedom and equality."

This is just about the only way to raise these issues consistently with the Chinese government and make any progress. The presentation does as little to embarrass them as possible, while not letting the rights issues disappear from the agenda.

Criticism has, predictably, been withering, with Human Rights Watch launching the harshest broadside in a quote to the NY Times:

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, who is closely monitoring China’s handling of the Games, said that the president’s speech underscored “this administration’s peculiar combination of cowardice and ineptitude in raising these issues directly and effectively with the Chinese leadership.”

Ms. Richardson has an admirable forthrightness, but a much less admirable naivete. I wonder what she'd rather the president do? Condemn the government on their own soil and infuriate 1.4 billion Chinese? Nothing would do more to solidify support for the Communist Party.

Not go at all? Well, then he'd never get to raise the issue in the first place.

At the end of the day, it's the patient, undramatic work that builds trust but still applies pressure. That kind of steady but unobtrusive push, from the US and the rest of the international community, is one reason (a minor one, but still a reason) that the Chinese people are probably freer now than they ever have been in Chinese history. There's still a long way to go, but, well, when you move too fast, you get a democracy that looks like Russia. China's change hasn't been as dramatic, but it looks likely to be more lasting than that in that other former bastion of communism - which is exactly why it might be worth thinking about as an example of policy done right.