I was having a good wander around Austin the other night, hoping to get some advice from the silent city. It told me some things about hidden lakes and grassy paths and what skylines should look like at night.
It also told me that pedestrians shouldn’t merge, a warning I appreciated.
But the most dramatic point that Austin made during this nighttime conversation was about its people. I came across the stadium, where the cold darkness lent an electrifying drama to the backlit sign: Respectful Friendly Passionate. You know the one. Texas fans make us proud.
It’s a great sign, made better by its easygoing confidence. It’s not a question or an exhortation, but a statement: Texas fans make us proud. I love that.
I’ve been thinking a lot about competition lately, largely because of major budget cuts that my undergraduate university’s main rival is going through. Suddenly, the good-natured jokes about its inability to do whatever-it-is as well as we do fall flat, because it’s going through some rough times that are significantly impacting its ability to remain the incredibly high quality school it is. Competition is way more fun when you respect and value your competitor. Without a strong undercurrent of mutual respect, competition sours and becomes something dangerous and a little scary.
It is for that reason that I’ve been worried about how the United States, wounded by a recession, is reacting to the adversity. In particular, the rhetoric surrounding American relationships with China has frightened me, going a little too far into the realm of us-versus-them without starting from the baseline assumption that we’re all happy to see each other, and we’re definitely going to shake hands and grab something to eat together when the game’s over.
Instead, phrasing has tended to assume that anything good that happens to China happens at the direct expense of Americans, and Americans should be wary of any entity labeled “China,” whether that entity is a person, a product or a company. It’s interesting to me that an American company participating in an international venture is referred to by name, while Chinese companies are often referred to as “the Chinese.” Images of “the Chinese” taking jobs and cars and food that rightfully belong to that guy down the street are disturbingly prevalent in conversations and the news.
I don’t think the pursuit of prosperity is a zero-sum game, and fortunately, Texas fans make us proud.
On Thursday, Austin’s Cielo Wind Power, the United States Renewable Energy Group, and Shenyang’s Shenyang Power Group announced the first-ever utility scale joint venture wind power project between the United States and China, with 240 Chinese-made 2.5-megawatt wind turbines expected to be placed in West Texas over the next two years. It’s a $1.5 billion project, financed by China-based commercial banks, and Cielo is commenting that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the bailout bill) is doing a lot for domestic energy and jobs by attracting investment to wind projects.
It’s an interesting way to frame the project — clearly calculated to remind people that wherever the turbines are made, their placement is going to do a lot of good things for local economies and domestic energy supply. Which is exactly true.
Murmurs about the fact that manufacturing the turbines in the United States would have created more domestic jobs and fear that the American cleantech sector is far behind similar sectors in China and Europe have, of course, been readily apparent. As long as these comments retain a sportsmanlike tone that calls on American manufacturers to rise to the challenge posed by worthy competitors, I find them productive. The fact that a Sino-American joint venture wind farm is being pursued encourages me in thinking that the competition is healthy for now, though the project is significantly smaller than the one that sparked rabidly protectionist talk a few years ago, when CNOOC (the Chinese national oil company) tried to buy Unocal for close to $20 billion.
My wariness about American protectionism founded on fear extends equally to China, where local content requirements have made it very difficult for exporters to sell technology and manufactured goods to developers within China. I hope that a friendly, competitive relationship comes to exist, but parties from both countries are going to need to play fair and allow themselves to be invested in even as they invest in one another.
Respect for the competitor coupled with a passionate desire to win makes the game much more enjoyable for everyone. Texas fans, let’s hope that our local success at being respectful rather than distrustful, friendly rather than guarded, and passionate rather than spiteful extends throughout the world.
Now, let’s go manufacture some wind turbines.
Grubert is an energy and earth resources graduate student.
