Jon Huntsman Interview with Charlie Rose

[Guest fountainhall]

On the Bloomberg channel last night, Charlie Rose had an extremely insightful interview with former Presidential Candidate Jon Huntsman. Huntsman was Ambassador to China for a couple of years. He also had four other periods based in Asia, and so has a pretty detailed in-depth knowledge of Chinese politics. Here are some shortened excerpts (with start times marked).

 

00:19 Rose starts by asking about the the accomplishments of the Chinese Vice President on his recent visit to the USA - the man who is likely to become the country’s next leader. Huntsman points out that this will be the start of a new era, as it will be the first leadership change without the influence of Deng Xiao-ping. This will also be the first generation of leaders to come to power during a time of stability and economic prosperity. The world is theirs, and they have to figure out how to deal with that reality – something they did not expect to happen for another 20 years. And after 30 years of 8% - 10% growth, they have to shift their economy from export-oriented to domestic demand which will be be very difficult. That transition is beginning, if only because all of their export markets are contracting.

 

05:09 The Chinese leadership’s paranoia about instability is very real. We look at China and we see 1.3 billion people and increasing prosperity. They look at China and see 700 million people still in poverty, they see vast income disequilibrium and they see themselves as 99^th in the world in per capita income, alongside Angola. There is an underlying reservoir of goodwill to the US. They like Americans, and we don’t realise that sometimes. We do well on a people-to-people basis.

 

09:35 He says for the first time ever he saw fear in people’s faces when he was running for President. They are beyond angry. They’re at a point where they can’t make sense of our future. When he was in China he looked at the US and saw a nation that was in a “funk”, dispirited and dejected. But when you walk the streets of Beijing or Shanghai or Guangzhou there’s energy, and everyone thinks their time has arrived. We forget that China has had the largest economy in the world for 18 of the last 20 centuries. They feel not that they have just arrived, but that their time has once again returned.

 

11:40 The view in China is that the US is a great country with every attribute for success - stability, the rule of law, a constitution, the greatest universities on earth, the most innovative and creative class of people on earth . . .

 

14:23 When he spoke with the Commerce Minister about trade talks, the Minister turned to Huntsman and asked him to remind people in America not to lose their confidence, because when they lose their confidence, the whole world suffers. The international political dynamics are changing to the extent where the Chinese now have the confidence to make suggestions to senior US diplomats.

 

20:40 He said there were lots of reasons for his failure in the Republican race. His crossing partisan lines to work for a Democrat President was one, not competing in Iowa and not being prepared to throw red-meat out were others.

 

25:08 He expects to see a third party candidate. The fastest growing party in the US now is the unaffiliated party. He will not consider leading a third party this time around (or perhaps even at any time in the future), but believes one will eventually become viable and will happen. It will be a healthy thing to see, to shake up the status quo. It will be the only way to see progress on the critically important structural issues that must be addressed.

 

I know precious little about Huntsman other than what I saw in this interview and one with Piers Morgan. From these - and only these - he strikes me as very impressive – far more so than any of the other Republican candidates.

 

More at

http://www.charliero...interview/12184

[Bob]

he strikes me as very impressive – far more so than any of the other Republican candidates.

 

By and far the most reasonable and moderate of the Republican candidates which, of course, meant he didn't have a chance. But even Huntsman (during the campaign) engaged a little in the tossing of red meat comments to the Republican base in an effort to woo their votes. I can understand why he did it but, given it was fairly obvious he didn't believe some of the right-wing comments he made, one tends not to forget it. Reminded me of little of Romney (who, also a basically nice guy, is the king of flip-floppers).

 

Although he says he wouldn't be involved, it's people like Huntsman who might perfectly fit in with a third party.