Principled Engagement in China
Jason Kindopp Saturday, 1 March 2003
The debate over China policy is tough terrain. To press through the thicket of ambiguities and tradeoffs, while still maintaining a moral compass, is not easy. Polarized and polemical, discourse about China in recent years has been less than helpful. While opinions have varied widely by issue—trade, security, human rights, and so on—they have tended to gravitate toward two opposing camps, often described as the "containment" approach versus the "engagement" approach. Too often, the argument is framed in simplistic terms, with moralistic China-bashers on one side and amoral China-apologists on the other. It is a dispute of interest not just to foreign policy elites but also to the Christian community. For many, the urgency of finding a principled, constructive way through the confusion has increased because of heightened awareness of China's violations of human rights in general, and of religious freedom in particular. What is needed is a philosophy that steers between the counterproductive extremes, an approach I call "principled engagement."
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