BEIJING — It’s a badly kept secret in Beijing that quite a few Chinese officials, including very senior ones, never warmed to Hillary Rodham Clinton. How much of that is because she is an outspoken supporter of women’s rights is unclear, but it is almost certainly a factor: China is run by men (literally — there is not a single woman in the inner circle of power, the Standing Committee of the Politburo), and women have little policy input, whether on domestic or global issues.
China’s Communist Party mandarins have been wary of Mrs. Clinton since at least 1995, when she was a key figure at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women here in Beijing. Those of us present at the meeting heard her tell delegates that “human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.” That language is in the declaration, which said: “Women’s rights are human rights” (Article 14 of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action). It was a major moment for the women’s movement in China and around the world.
Yet that was after officials had exiled the lively N.G.O. groups in attendance to the distant suburbs of Huairou, fearing the mind-opening impact they would have on its citizens. China in 1995 was a more socially conservative place than today, and feminists calling for health care for prostitutes, or wages for mothers, or lesbian and gay rights, profoundly shocked officials.
So recent talk from some leading academics within Beijing’s foreign policy establishment that China is looking forward to seeing John Kerry succeed Mrs. Clinton as the U.S. secretary of state comes as no surprise.
Jin Canrong, an international affairs professor at Renmin University of China, said Mr. Kerry would be less aggressive toward China than Mrs. Clinton has been, according to China Daily.
China disliked Mrs. Clinton’s central role in the Obama administration’s turn toward Asia, which has been interpreted by many here as an effort to contain China.
Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution said Mrs. Clinton’s role in the administration’s “pivot to Asia” and her tough stance toward China were arguably “her greatest and most memorable contribution” as secretary of state, as my colleague David Rohde reported.
In contrast, Ruan Zongze, a former senior Chinese diplomat in the U.S. and the deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies, views Mr. Kerry as “professional, calm and pragmatic, and expects him to initiate strategic dialogues between China and the U.S., which will wield positive influence on Sino-U.S. relations,” China Daily wrote.
“Among the challenges facing Kerry will be to improve ties between China and the U.S., which have worsened since Washington’s rebalancing policy in the Asia-Pacific region,” the state-run newspaper said.
“China-U.S. ties have deteriorated through a series of high-profile measures by the U.S. aimed at rebalancing, especially the over-emphasis of military action, which triggered great antipathy from China,” the paper quoted Mr. Ruan as saying in December, after Mr. Kerry’s nomination became known.
Last week, Mr. Ruan had more to say, Global Post reported.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, he said that “America’s pivot is sending the wrong message” to its allies, encouraging them to “become more bellicose and provocative,” according to Global Post. “An unstable or weak China would be very dangerous,” he added.
Yet over the weekend, China praised Mrs. Clinton’s four years at the helm of U.S. foreign policy, in words from a key interlocutor of hers over the years, Dai Bingguo, a deputy minister of foreign affairs and a key voice in China’s foreign policy.
“Over the last four years,” Mr. Dai told Mrs. Clinton in a telephone call on Saturday evening, according to a statement on the Web site of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “China-U.S. relations have been generally stable and have made major, positive progress.”
Both sides should continue to steer towards a new type of relationship between big powers based on mutual respect and partnership, said Mr. Dai.
