Sino-American Relations

“Sino-American relations are too important to be ignored. We should cherish and take good care of the Sino-American bond, both for the sake of our national interests and the peace and development of humanity.”

Obama chose Shanghai as the first stop during his trip to China. He is the first American president ever to visit China in his first year of presidency, which denotes the importance of both Sino-American relations and the city of Shanghai. Fortunately, Sino-American relations have gone well since Obama was sworn in, although the restriction of Chinese tire imports in the U.S. might cause conflict. Unlike the times when previous American presidents took power, no major setbacks or strikes are blocking the way for Sino-American cooperation now. Such a good situation is worth cherishing, and people are hoping that Obama’s first visit to China will push Sino-American relations into a new, better phase.

Sino-American relations are so important that American scholars even came up with the unpractical idea to replace the UN G-8 with the UN G-2 and the concept of “Chimerica.” George W. Bush and President Obama both agree that Sino-American relations are the most important bilateral relations in the world, a fact which mainly stems from two aspects. First, trade and financial connections between the two countries are so important that the nations are integrated with each other like conjoined twins. Second, they could not be separated from one another without hurting themselves because the U.S. is the largest developed country while China is the biggest developing country. They complete one another in various ways. For example, the currently endangered automaker, General Motors, can only benefit from China, Boeing surely cannot bear the loss of the Chinese market, and poor, unemployed Americans could not have survived the economic recession if it were not for the quality products from China available at low prices. On the other hand, Chinese people feel equally dependent on the products of Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, IBM, Intel and other high-tech American goods.

Financially speaking, if China sold all of its American treasury bonds, the U.S. economy would break down immediately. But meanwhile, as a result of the same act, the Chinese economy would suffer a great deal, too. Regarding global security, the Korean peninsula’s denuclearization process could not happen without China’s persuasion while the Northeast Asian Security Structure and the East Asia Community could not function in the absence of China. Anti-terrorism, the prevention of nuclear weapons development, and the Somali pirate clean-up would not have been so successful without China’s cooperation, let alone attempts at slowing global warming, protecting the environment, securing energy, preventing and controlling diseases, or other global challenges.

Therefore, whether for saving the world from financial and economical crisis or for assuring world stability and peace, China and the U.S. must engage in constructive and effective cooperation.

Needless to say, there are, indeed, still many disagreements and contradictions between China and the U.S., such as the U.S. government’s sale of firearms to Taiwan and interference in China’s national affairs regarding Tibet and Xinjiang. The issues of Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang are internal matters for China, and the US government tends to make trouble regarding them. The U.S. government’s response to the East Turkistan terrorism in Sarajevo was unwise. East Turkistan is officially recognized by the United Nations and the U.S. as a terrorist organization, but the American government let it go unaddressed because “it bears no threat to America.” Is terrorism only defined as something that is threatening to the United States? To say the least, if it was not a threat to America, Congress and the American people would not strongly refuse to place them in American territory. The double standards and bullying logic of the U.S. government, together with its disregard of international law and national sovereignty, were completely revealed in this case.

Before his visit to China, Obama expressed in an interview the hope that China, as a powerful nation, would take on more responsibility. In fact, this hope would be more suitable if it was said of the United States. Bringing to mind the Iraq war, which was recklessly declared by the U.S. and has brought suffering to people in Iraq and worldwide, the global financial crisis, which was due to the irresponsibility of Wall Street, and the current trade disputes between China and the U.S., we can see that the U.S. government is the origin of all these messes. The restriction on Chinese tire imports, heavy taxes on oil well tubes, and investigation into the dumping of coated paper and phosphate are all for the purpose of protecting minority interests groups in the U.S. at the sacrifice of positive relations between China and America. The U.S. may even cause a meaningless trade war and, when that day comes, the American government will not escape the reality that they are the cause of their problems.

Sino-American relations are paramount. The union of China and America has reached the level of “cooperating actively in all areas,” which was not an easy goal to achieve. Therefore, the governments and the people of these two countries should cherish this constructive friendship, both for the sake of their national interests and for the peace and development of humanity. We hope President Obama’s trip to Asia will be a serious “trip of listening.”