US erred in leaving China on sidelines: Dutch journalist

Dutch writer faults Obama's decision-making over new bank and new trade agreement

Fokke Obbema, a Dutch journalist and author of China and the West, has criticized United States President Barack Obama for trying to contain China, which he believes has been fulfilling its global responsibilities appropriately.

The first mistake, says Obbema, was that the US tried and failed to discourage some countries from supporting the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, an institution intended to boost connectivity in Eurasia.

A second error came early this month, when Obama said that "countries like China" should not be allowed to write the rules of the global economy. "We should write those rules," the president said in a statement, "opening new markets to American products while setting high standards for protecting workers and preserving our environment." He made the remarks after the US, Japan and 10 other countries had concluded an historic trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"To be honest, I was also a little shocked by these words, and I thought they were really harsh," says Obbema, speaking to China Daily from South Korea. "And it was a bit unlike him... advocating enemy-thinking."

Obbema visited China in 2008, the year the Olympics was held in Beijing. The dynamism, energy and rapid changes in Beijing and Shanghai fascinated him. It was a shock to the system and a contrast from the cliches and reports about the fast-developing country. The experience inspired him to write a book about China.

In 2009, when the world was in the grip of a financial crisis and recession, China came under fire following the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen. Such intense events drove Obbema, a senior journalist at the Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant, to find out more about China's transformation.