Testimony of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission July 21, 2005 Thank you for this opportunity to speak to the Commission today to share my perspective on one aspect of China's "Growing Global Influence." I have served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on African Affairs for over twelve years. I have traveled widely in North and sub-Saharan Africa, and in recent years, I have been struck by the energized campaign of engagement in the region that is being pursued by the People's Republic of China. There are many issues on which I favor a tough U.S. policy response to China -- certainly when it comes to proliferation, when it comes to the dismal Chinese human rights record, and when it comes to unfair trade practices. But not every Chinese policy and initiative is a threat, and our interests are not always destined to conflict. When it comes to China's engagement in Africa, careful analysis and level-headed policy responses are required. This engagement is not a bad thing in and of itself, but we should be asking ourselves what it tells us about Chinese grand strategy -- and what that means for our own. The evidence of Chinese engagement is strikingly apparent, as it is often tangible -- new roads, new buildings housing government ministries, and of course, the ubiquitous Chinese-built soccer stadiums. But not all of it is apparent from a windshield tour. China's loan to Angola last year relieved the government in Luanda of the pressure they felt to come to an agreement with the IMF -- an agreement that would have come with strings attached limiting the Angolan government's capacity to continue siphoning off state resources for personal gain in this appallingly underdeveloped country. China's investments in Zimbabwe have not just helped the oppressive regime of Robert Mugabe financially, they have helped him politically, as he tells his starving population not to worry, China will replace whatever support has been lost in the West as a result of the ruling party's utter disregard for the rule of law. And in Sudan, Chinese oil investments have helped to prop up a regime in Khartoum that our President and this Congress have accused of involvement in genocide in Darfur. It came as no surprise that China was reluctant to acquiesce to meaningful Security Council action to address this crisis. According to some reports, nearly 700 Chinese companies operate in 49 African countries, and trade between China and the continent has been flourishing, making China one of the continent's top trading partners. The Chinese seek influence, markets, access to raw materials and most critically, energy to fuel their growing economy. It is clear that they see Africa as a fertile facilitating ground to help them secure their own economic gains, and in so doing attain a new level of global power. Some would respond to this Chinese agenda with alarm, a sense that the U.S. is losing while China gains, and a resolve to redouble American engagement efforts in the region. But a note of caution is in order here. The U.S. must not fall into the trap of believing that simply because China is willing to provide some package of assistance, enter into some partnership, or make some investment, the U.S. should always be trying to beat the Chinese to the punch. Training and equipping abusive military forces with no strings attached on the grounds that "if we don't, the Chinese will" is a self-defeating strategy. Propping up violent authoritarian regimes for fear of losing some perceived power struggle to Beijing would not only be shameful, ultimately it would be unwise -- a bad investment for the American people. Abandoning our standards means losing some of our unique power -- our power to lend legitimacy to a given enterprise, and our power to lead, to persuade, and to inspire. Loss of this power is loss of leverage, and if we head down this dangerous road we will find ourselves with less influence in the developing world rather than more. This point holds for the American government, and it should be front and center as we make decisions about what the United States does with the resources of American taxpayers and in the name of our great democracy. It should also hold for the private sector, and corporate responsibility should not be sacrificed in the name of a real or imagined competition with China. Just as our policies and principles are more than niceties in government -- they are at the very foundation of what it is that we hope to achieve in the world --- so too should basic tenets of corporate responsibility be more than window dressing for the business community. Members of that community can serve as vitally important guardians and guides, protecting investments and pointing the way toward sound and stable growth and away from seemingly attractive prospects that are ultimately revealed to be counter-productive. Let me conclude by simply observing that newly energized Chinese engagement in Africa deserves close attention, but, if we refuse to abandon who we are and what we stand for, it may ultimately be a positive thing for the U.S. There may well be some areas in which the U.S. and China can collaborate constructively, working in partnership with each other and with Africans to help bring stability to very unstable places, to promote development, and to improve the prospects of communities that are full of potential. Over time, China may decide that its investments would be far safer in a context of stability and good governance, and may come to share some of our policy goals. Principled cooperation can be good for our bilateral relationship with China, and good for Africa. I say this not out of naivete about China's intentions but based on a hard-headed analysis of Chinese and U.S. interests in the region. Moreover, China's engagement strategy serves to remind the U.S. that others see the strategic significance of a part of the world too often ignored in the U.S., and we should learn from that. This is not a call to repeat the mistakes of the Cold War, when Africa was too often treated as some kind of geopolitical chessboard, but it is a call for recognizing that in the vast and remarkably diverse continent of Africa, critically important future partners, markets, and leaders are emerging. If China's attention to this obvious reality helps to prod the U.S. into more and better engagement -- done on our own terms -- so much the better. Thank you for this opportunity.

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