Obama is using old-fashioned 'containment', official says

A top Chinese diplomatic adviser has accused the Obama administration of reviving a cold war tactic in its recent dealings towards China.

Zhao Qizheng , spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is the first official to proclaim that Washington has adopted a 'containment' policy towards China.

'The recent US policy towards China has clearly demonstrated that Washington adopt both containment and engagement [approach towards China],' Zhao told the South China Morning Post at the sidelines of the annual parliament session. Zhao is also the chairman of the advisory body's Foreign Affairs Committee.

Containment was a US policy using military, economic and diplomatic strategies to temper the spread of communism during the cold war, which is associated with the policies of US President Harry S Truman, who was in the White House from 1945-53. Under Truman the US helped to establish the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in 1949. Describing the opposing policies as akin to using a car's accelerator then braking, Zhao said Washington's policymakers recently took turns to use both approaches in their dealings with China. 'They took turns to step on the accelerator and brake,' Zhao said in an exclusive interview with the Post.

'And once you step on an emergency brake, you are adopting the containment policy,' Zhao said, referring to Washington's arms sales to Taiwan and US President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Sino-US relations have deteriorated in recent months due to a series of disputes. And Zhao said Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama and the new US arms sales to Taiwan severely damaged their core interests.