You know, I think it\u2019s important first for the American people and our leadership to understand that China is not like the Soviet Union of old. \u00a0The Soviet Union, Khrushchev in particular, wanted to bury us. \u00a0China doesn\u2019t want to bury us, they want to see us succeed and thrive so that we can buy more Chinese products and they\u2019re a competitor economically. \u00a0More power to \u2018em, we know how to compete. \u00a0We want to make sure that competition is fair and legal, and that they protect our intellectual property rights and that they have a monetary policy that\u2019s fair, so we\u2019ve got some challenges to make sure that the playing field is level with China, but we can compete, we can be successful with China, and I will reach out to them, I\u2019ve already met with their leadership and will do so again if I\u2019m lucky enough to be president. Making China a partner for stability in the world will be one of my highest priorities.<\/p>\n

China is really key in many respects as they become a very large economy; their GNP is going to surpass ours at some point just given the scale of the nation\u2019s population. \u00a0We have to recognize that they\u2019re going to be an economic powerhouse like us. \u00a0And with that reality we gotta make sure that we are friendly, that we understand each other, that we\u2019re open in communicating, and that we\u2019re collaborating on important topics, like keeping North Korea from pursuing the nuclear armament which they\u2019ve begun, getting Iran to abandon their nuclear ambitions, China and we together will have a great deal of positive influence for stability if we\u2019re able to work that relationship properly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s unclear why the Obama campaign thinks this is damning, but I suppose you could take the words, “China doesn\u2019t want to bury us, they want to see us succeed and thrive so that we can buy more Chinese products,” out of context, and try to portray Romney as a flip-flopper on China. \u00a0I don’t think it’ll work. \u00a0I think Romney knows what he said, and in his calm, smooth, reassuring style will remind us that he was insisting that we make China play by the rules, because it’s in everyone’s interest.<\/p>\n

I suppose it’s also possible that they’ll use the second half of the statement to claim that Romney is naive on China. \u00a0But coming from a president whose naivete on the Middle East is unsurpassed in several generations, and whose “pivot to Asia” is about to be undermined by drastic budget cuts to the Navy, that probably won’t work too well, either.<\/p>\n