Speak softly and forget the stick, China experts warn ahead of Hu visit

Non-confrontationalapproach urged as Hu Jintao becomes China’s first head-of-state ever to visitDenmark this week

Establishing a goodrelationship during Hu Jintao’s visit will have more benefits down the roadthan a confrontational approach here and now, the government is being told onthe eve of the Chinese president's visit.

Hu will be staying inDenmark for three days, from June 14-16, making him the first Chinesehead-of-state to visit Denmark and giving business leaders and politicaldecision-makers ample opportunity to establish a rewarding relationship withtheir Chinese counterparts.

PM HelleThorning-Schmidt will be keen to discuss several topics with the Chinesedelegation, notably issues that pertain to the economic co-operation betweenthe two countries, environmental dilemmas and the oft-criticised human rightssituation in China.

But the primary goal forThorning-Schmidt and co will be to promote Danish business interests to China –something that can potentially have a massive impact on the stagnant Danisheconomy.

“The large Chinesecompanies pay attention to where the leaders of the country look to,” KarstenDybvad, who is the managing director of Dansk Industri, a business lobby group,wrote on the organisation’s website. “That’s why the visit is an obvious opportunityto get the Chinese talking about Denmark and to view Denmark as an attractivecountry they can invest in.”

The unfortunate state ofa Danish economy yearning for investment can provide the
perfect bargaining chip for theChinese as they pursue interests in Greenland and the Arctic areas.

China has alreadyinvested heavily in Greenland and is looking to reap some benefits from thereceding Arctic ice for shipping purposes and the 10 percent of the world’sundiscovered oil resources that are estimated to exist there.

“China is looking to theScandinavian nations for support in their application to get status as apermanent observer in the Arctic Council,” Anne-Marie Brady, a lecturer at theUniversity of Canterbury in New Zealand, told website Kinablog. “So it is nocoincidence that first Iceland, Sweden and now Denmark are visited byhigh-level politicians from China.”

To this end, China hashad four expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic, established a researchoutpost in Svalbard in northern Norway and has constructed an icebreakervessel. But the cooled relationship with Norway means that China must acquirethe support of the other Scandinavian nations in an attempt to realise itsArctic aspirations.

And the visit of Hu toDenmark is neither trivial nor coincidental, because as small as Denmark isgeographically, it is significant in many fields, including sustainable energytechnology, the pharmaceutical industry and food products.

China is particularlyinterested in sustainable energy in a bid to combat its increasing pollutionissues, medicine to deal with health problems such as the sharp rise ofdiabetics as the country develops, and Danish food products such as dairy andpigs, which are favourite sources of food in China.

“In Denmark we havestrong competencies within energy and resource-effective technologies, whichthe Chinese need as part of their transformation into a more sustainableeconomy,” Dybvad wrote. “But there’s massive potential for the drug and foodindustries in the Chinese market - something the visit can cater to.”

Aside from the businessand environmental arenas, another topic that the Danes would want talks steeredtowards is China’s embattled human rights record. But that theme must beapproached more gingerly, according to Xing Li, a lecturer and researcher atAalborg University.

“A Chinese leader hasnever before visited Denmark and that’s why we should utilise the chance tobuild a bridge between the nations,” Li told Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper.“They need to look at economic co-operation and then human rights can bediscussed at a later time.”

And Denmark could easilyface economic ramifications for rubbing China up the wrong way. After LiuXiaobo, the Chinese human rights activist won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010,the relationship between China and Norway cooled considerably. With Denmarkappearing to be back in China’s good books after the then PM Lars LøkkeRasmussen met with the Dalai Lama in 2009, this meeting may not present theideal opportunity for a country with a moribund economy to challenge China’ssuspect human rights track record.