Commentary: Clinton's ears wide open

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) meets with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) in Beijing, China, Feb. 21, 2009.(Chinese media/Yao Dawei)
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BEIJING, Feb. 23 -- If the point of Hillary Rodham

Clinton's maiden voyage overseas in her new role as United States secretary of

state was to assure and reassure, she made it.

If her four-country Asia trip was to present a fresh

American approach to world affairs, she did so.

In Beijing at least, Clinton's visit delivered what

is needed desperately - a sense of certainty in the diplomatic vacuum between

two presidencies.

Until very recently, many had waited anxiously for

the new administration's China overtures, wondering if the precious signs of

stabilization in bilateral ties at the end of the Bush years could survive the

new White House resident's ambitions for change. With Clinton in town

highlighting common concerns, they finally received the much sought after

relief.

Her reference to the ancient Chinese aphorism "tongzhou gongji," "when in one boat, help each other," received enthusiastic resonance from Premier Wen Jiabao and the average Chinese alike.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (1st R) meets with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (1st L) in Beijing, China, Feb. 21, 2009.(Chinese media/Liu Weibing)
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In her tune-setting Feb 13 speech at the Asia

Society, Mrs Clinton declared a rising China is not an adversary by definition,

and the two countries can benefit from and contribute to each other's successes.

And she found us in a common boat.

In Sun Zi's The Art of War, from where the aphorism

derives, capable commanders can make all soldiers, brave or cowardly, fight

courageously by throwing them into a situation where they have to. That is

exactly where our two countries are. The commanders here are the financial

crisis, climate change, and many more. Given the inter-dependence between our

economies, as well as our impacts and responsibilities as two of the world's

largest developed and developing economies, we have to get together. And since

our countries are unlike the ancient enemy states of Wu and Yue, we can

certainly achieve more than crossing the river.

Talking about tackling climate change and other

global challenges, Mrs Clinton evoked another Chinese proverb, saying we should

not "linke juejing" or "dig a well when thirsty". Huang Di's Internal Classic,

the oldest Chinese medical classic which spawned this proverb, prescribes

advanced planning. It is too late, it says, to act when symptoms of illness are

obvious, and chaos is a fact in society, just like digging a well when thirsty.

Mrs Clinton's Asia trip was defined as a "listening

tour". She has listened to many, including ancient Chinese wisdom.

Everyone managing sino-US relations needs such wisdom

to cultivate strategic insight.

(Source: China Daily)