By The River

I thought the candidates for the Democratic and Republican nominations for President in 2008 hadn't said much about China.

The issue almost never comes up in debates or speeches on the campaign trail. Which is odd, given the fact that it seems like everything we buy these days is made in China, and about half of it seems contaminated with lead paint. American corporations continue to close factories in the U.S. so they can have their products made more cheaply in China. If you dig deep enough on the Internet, however, you can find the positions on China of the candidates from both parties.

So continuing my coverage of the five big issues of 2008, here is what the various candidates have said about the threat and promise of the world's most populous nation.

Democrats:

Hillary Clinton: Sen. Clinton has made the China threat a central part of her campaign message, even if it hasn't gotten a lot of attention. She said on CNBC last spring that America was undergoing "a slow erosion of our own economic sovreignty because we have become too dependent on the cheap factory floors of China. The U.S. has a huge trade deficit with China, which uses its dollars to buy up the U.S. national debt, which has skyrocketed because of the Bush Administration's tax cuts for the wealthy and the expense of the Iraq war.

Barack Obama: Says China is rising, and is neither a friend or foe, but rather "a competitor." He has critiized the U.S. Treasury for passivity in the face of China's manipulation of its own currency to keep it weak in relation to the U.S. dollar. Sen. Obama has co-sponsored a bill to pressure China to revalue its currency upward. He has also expresse concern about China graduating four times the number of engineers that America is graduating, and what that might mean for the U.S. economy.

John Edwards: Former Sen. Edwards appeared before the Asia Society in October 2006 to talk about China, but had little to say about China's threat to U.S. workers and the national economy. He talked mostly about Chinese support for the Sudanese government and other issues of China out in the world. That had changed by the time he appeared in the AFL-CIO Democratic Forum this past August. Like Obama, he spoke of China as a "competitor," not a friend or foe. Edwards acknowledged there were "major human rights abuses" in China, but spoke mostly of the dangerous toys issue and the need for tougher country-of-origin labeling.

Edwards voted in 2000 to expand China trade and made the comment, "It does no good to pretend that these remedies are perfect and that people will not be hurt."

Dennis Kucinich: Congressman Kucinich says the 2000 China trade agreement has resulted in the loss of 973,000 manufacturing jobs and 1.2 million jobs overall. He has criticized Edwards for his Senate vote in favor of the treaty. Kucinich received a 93 percent rating from Public Citizen, the highest of any candidate, for his support of fair trade measures.

Republicans

Fred Thompson: Sen. Thompson speaks of China as a potential military threat to both the U.S. but especially to Taiwan. He says if China attacked Taiwan, the United States would be obligated to go to war to defend Taiwan. Thompson has little to say about China as an economic threat beyond quick and vague pronouncements that they "potentially have such a tremendous economy."

Rudolph Giuliani: He says China is a "great challenge" to the U.S., but wants to continue the Bush Administration's policy of engagement with China. Like many of the Republican candidates, he seems less concerned about China's impact on U.S. workers than on potential military threats. Former Mayor Giuliani even called for increasing the size of the U.S. military to meet a potential threat from China.

Mitt Romney: Former Gov. Romney wants to stop intellectual piracy of U.S. products in China, a major problem for U.S. corporations like Microsoft, but says little about the China jobs issue. In general, he wants to make sure economic competition between the U.S. and China is "fair and legal."

John McCain: Here's what Sen. McCain told Foreign Affairs magazine this month: "Dealing with a rising China will be a central challenge for the next American president. Recent prosperity in China has brought more people out of poverty faster than during any other time in human history. China's newfound power implies responsibilities. It raises legitimate expectations that internationally China will behave as a responsible economic partner by developing a transparent code of conduct for its corporations, assuring the safety of its exports, developing a market approach to currency valuation, pursuing sustainable environmental policies, and abandoning its go-it-alone approach to world energy supplies."

For the rest of his comments on China plus a whole lot more, read the article for yourself in Foreign Affairs. Whether you support him or not, at least he's on the record.