Ethical Operational Codes and Dealing with China

This contribution argues that, without an ethical operational code, scholars', policymakers', businesspersons', and citizens' policy positions simply become expedient reactions to perceived problems, opportunities, and interests. Without ethical footing, policies as a whole will lack coherence, staying power, and persuasive force. Key elements of an ethical operational code include: philosophical grounding and core values, concepts of social and historical development, and rules of thumb derived from an individual's experience. Providing several examples of China-related policy issues which would benefit from the ethical operational code approach, this essay then discusses the analytic elements of an operational code. It concludes by arguing that, in the context of US-China relations, individuals should develop ethical constructs characterized by patience, more carrots than sticks, and more open doors than high walls. In what is emerging as an increasingly ideologically polarized domestic and foreign policy circumstance in the United States and in U.S.-China relations, the starting point for an individual needs to be self-reflection concerning what they believe and why.