Understanding China-US Relations Is the Most Important Task for the Asia-Pacific

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded a trip to China; China and the U.S. had no unexpected “breakthroughs” for the world, but this time the visit created the opportunity for the Asia-Pacific region to think about Sino-U.S. relations. Understanding the two big countries can yield an overall grasp on seemingly elusive Sino-U.S. relations; this is the most important task for future Asia-Pacific international politics.

In the last two years, the “atmosphere” of Sino-U.S. relations undoubtedly fell to the bottom; the U.S.’ “return to Asia” and “smart power” diplomacy caused mutual strategic mistrust to peak. Many pessimistic predictions continue to appear, and the irreconcilable strategic game between China and the U.S. seems to be opening. Some diplomatic thought that tries to gain from exploiting contradictions between China and the U.S. also began to compete in the East Asian political arena.

However, a closer look at the Sino-U.S. relations shows that there has been no strategy for change in recent years. Although the ideology of guarding against the other is aggravated by both sides, the two countries are very cautious in action. Hillary whispered some “gossip” about China into Asian countries’ ears, but when she is facing China, she always incisively pinpoints the importance of the Sino-U.S. relationship.

Maintaining the momentum of the current relations between China and the U.S. has huge strategic benefits; these benefits are an invisible force that ensures neither China nor the U.S. can deviate arbitrarily. There have been numerous episodes in Sino-U.S. relations, but most of them are only talk. Public opinion or emotional catharsis by some people in both countries rarely has the opportunity to translate into open diplomatic actions by the two countries.

Sino-U.S. trade continues to expand in recent years with active mutual investment. The Obama administration did not yield to the domestic cry to require declaring China as a currency manipulator. The economic friction between the two countries is on the rise, but the overall situation of mutually beneficial cooperation still exists. Chinese and U.S. military deployment is trending in a new direction, but no matter what the outside world guesses, the officials of both countries insist that they are not against each other.

The main reason why Sino-U.S. relations have this surprising stability to interlopers is that it is consistent with the actual interests of the two countries. In addition, because the power of the U.S. is in decline, its ability to arbitrarily shift the space and resources for China-U.S. relations is also shrinking. The U.S.’ “return to Asia” seems to be its strategic offensive, but in view of the actual resources invested by the U.S. and the sharp decline in U.S. defense spending, everything done by the U.S. made it more like “using offense as a means of defense” as its strategy.

The U.S. is now devoted to pouring power into East Asia: To engage in a decisive strategy of containment against China is inconceivable. It takes a lot of money and cedes a big chunk of energy used by the U.S. to solve the many tough domestic problems while the benefits to the U.S. from doing all of this are purely imaginary. Therefore, this strategic choice is an unbearable weight for the U.S.

Understanding all of this is very important to the intellectual and strategic sectors of East Asia. Some individual countries consider the thought of using the U.S. to control China — this is the rehearsal to prepare for the role of a script that cannot be staged. Public opinion in the Philippines and Japan in the last two years is almost to the point of holding a magnifying glass to find support in the words of U.S. officials. Every move by U.S. warships has been endowed with special significance by these countries and the U.S.’ “return to Asia” has been made muddier by these countries.

It is time for these countries to restore calm. East Asian neighbors should earnestly resolve their problems among themselves. The Philippines, Vietnam and Japan will not help the interests of the U.S. at the loss of their lives. The U.S., in turn, will not be the one deceived on account of its generosity for their benefits. The sum of the volume of trade of these countries and the U.S. is still less in scale compared to China-U.S. trade. China remains the largest buyer of the national debt of the U.S. They, as well as the U.S., want to take advantage of the other to play ball with China, but no one is willing to “make sacrifices.”

The most important thing is that China is very steady. We did not think about “fighting to the death” with the U.S. or “dominating Asia.” China only wants the right to continue to develop and reasonably resolve territorial disputes with related countries. China's request is justified, not overbearing; the U.S. and others, in fact, also have a pretty good idea about it. The joint system to control China has no authentic strategic objectives, so it is impossible to make up.