“Encountering China” kicks off E.N. Thompson Forum

Is it reason for America to worry?

That was the first question addressed in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2009-2010 E.N. Thompson Forum, which is appropriately titled "Encountering China."

Doug Bereuter, a former U.S. Congressman from Lincoln and current president and CEO of The Asia Foundation, gave the first lecture in the forum.

"What happens to Asia is far more important to America's future than anything else that happens in the world," Bereuter said.

He said the United States' trade deficit with China accounts for $266 billion of the $800 billion overall trade deficit. And having a hand in America's pocket isn't the only thing China has going for itself – the country with 1.3 billion people also has a strong dedication to increasing its "soft power."

Soft power is a term first used in 1990 by Harvard professor Joseph Nye and refers to a group's ability to get what they want without using force. Bereuter said China has used a variety of different techniques to increase its soft power. Examples are an increase in foreign aid, the Confucius exhibits in more than 260 countries that promote China's language and culture and an increase of academic exchange programs with universities such as UNL. 

"The focus of Chinese foreign aid is very different than our own, they have a very strategic motive … it is to secure the mineral and petroleum base," he said, adding that much of their aid is directed to countries that don't accept U.S aid because of the stipulations that go along with it. "The more authoritarian the African country … the more they like the Chinese because (the aid) isn't conditioned with environmental studies or human rights issues."

Meanwhile, Bereuter said, the United States has done the opposite and is decreasing its soft power.

"At the end of the Cold War, Congress and the Executive Branch, with the full blessing of the American people … dramatically changed our soft power elements," he said.

At the end of the speech, the former Nebraska representative said the U.S should worry about itself, not China.

"There is nothing unnatural or insidious about the Chinese to increase its soft power," Bereuter said. "America needs to put its fiscal house in federal order."

Ian Vosburg, a freshman political science major, was one of the 990 people in attendance at the lecture. He said all honors students at UNL get an honors credit if they go to five lectures about China and write one- to two-page reflection papers.

He picked Monday's lecture because it was related to his international relations class.

"It's interesting how much of a deficit we have to China," he said.

Matt Kreutzer, a freshman architecture student, went to the lecture for the same reasons and left not worried about the Chinese influx of power.

"It's been going on for years, and we haven't suffered," he said.

ryanboetel@dailynebraskan.com