Embracing the dragon
- 11 Apr 08, 10:34 PM
Gordon Brown is cross. Very cross. Accusations of dithering hurt at any time but this week's jibe that he deserves the gold medal for dithering didn't just hurt, it infuriated the prime minister. Not simply because it was not true that he'd dithered about whether to go to the Olympics but also because he has been clear and consistent about the need to engage positively with China however distasteful some may find it and whatever the political cost.
That cost was captured in a single image - of the men in blue tracksuits, who Lord Coe has dubbed Chinese thugs, muscling their way up Downing Street as the tenant of No 10 looked on trapped, or so it seemed, between a desire not to be too closely associated with what was happening and his inability to pull out altogether.
His plight is explained, or so conventional wisdom has it, by the fact that Britain, as the next host of the Olympics, must cosy up to the Chinese. Also, by the desire of a canny ex-chancellor to tap in to China's huge wealth at a time when money is tight. There is something in both these explanations but there is another just as significant and much less familiar.
Brown believes that China must be coaxed into becoming an active member of what he calls "the global society". In other words, he believes that Chinese involvement is needed to solve many of the world's most pressing problems -whether climate change or Darfur. What's more, he fears that Communist hardliners will be strengthened if the Olympics lead to China losing face rather than seeing the benefits of opening up to the world.
This has been re-inforced by the bond that has been formed between the prime minister and his opposite number - Premier Wen. Brown and Wen are similar characters - both are praised for their seriousness and derided for their lack of charisma. The two men appeared together recently at what was dubbed Communist China's first ever town hall meeting. Those of us who attended mocked the stage-managed questions from hand-picked party loyalists. Gordon Brown rebuked us for missing the point - a Communist apparatchik was taking the risk of opening himself to questioning without relying on a script. Wen was putting a small toe into democratic waters.
Team Brown insists that this relationship has not come at the expense of putting pressure on the Chinese over human rights or Darfur or Burma. Indeed, they point to a series of small positive steps taken by the Chinese after Brown's visit. As for Tibet they point out that Brown is to meet the Dalai Lama and has called for a dialogue with Tibet's spiritual leader whilst avoiding the furious row provoked by Germany's Angela Merkl when she did the same but without first informing Beijing.
Treading carefully around Chinese sensibilities may play well in Beijing but it plays much less well at home. Ensuring that the Chinese don't lose face has led Gordon Brown to lose it instead. He knows this but has never dithered over what he believes is not just in Britain's but in the wider world's interests - the need to embrace the dragon.
