Chinese-American Relations after a Good New Beginning

In mid-January of this year, Chairman Hu Jintao’s state visit to the United States achieved great success. The Chinese and American heads of state exchanged views frankly and in-depth on a new period in Sino-American relations from a high-level perspective, confirmed the general direction of the building of mutual respect and the win-win Chinese-American cooperative relationship, and reached consensus on international issues and bilateral cooperation. This state visit was of major significance. It strengthened the two countries’ strategic trust and advanced bilateral cooperation and friendship.

Each country in the world closely watched Hu Jintao’s visit to America, paying special attention to international opinion and also issuing reports. International society paying attention to a state visit like this is certainly uncommon, but is not an accident. China and the United States are two leading powers which have global influence, and each shoulders the weighty responsibilities of development, security and peace for the world. The United States and China separately are the world’s first and second largest economies, and are widely regarded as the main force of world economic development. On responding to global issues such as climate change, the financial crisis, energy challenges, structural reforms and nuclear non-proliferation, if there were no China-United States bilateral involvement and cooperation it would be difficult to obtain effective progress. This type of relationship of two great powers has clearly already exceeded the scope of bilateral relations and has a direct important influence on contemporary international relations. President Obama believes that “United States-China relations will shape the twenty-first century.” Chairman Hu Jintao emphasized, “Whether China and the United States can establish strategic mutual trust has a bearing on great power relations and world peace.” Chairman Hu Jintao, on this successful visit to America, not only initiated a new phase of a new atmosphere, conduct and thinking for the development of China-United States relations, but also gave off a clear signal to the world that China and the United States would commit to cooperation and avoid confrontation. No matter whether it is judged from a bilateral or international perspective, the positive significance and value of this visit was exceptional.

The China-United States relationship is undoubtedly the most important bilateral relationship in the world, but, at the same time, it is also the most complex relationship in the world. Both sides have extensive and constantly growing common interests, and also have various differences and inconsistent demands. Chinese-American relations involves three levels: The first is the direct relationship between the two sides; the second is each side’s own relationship with the world; and the third is the separate relationship with other countries or a third party. The three types are different but interrelated, and they influence each other. Both China and the United States have common or parallel interests at each level, providing a good opportunity for developing cooperation and widening space, but both also have differences of different extents and direct or indirect conflicts. These must be seriously and properly addressed and solved.

Regarding bilateral relations, the problems are varied and the reasons are intricate and complex. There are problems which are brought about because the two countries don’t share the same characteristics, mainly the differences of political systems, ideology, model of development and historical and cultural background. It goes without saying that in these areas, China and the United States cannot insist on being the same; also, on these types of issues, they should not foment conflict, create trouble or put itself in the wrong position in the bilateral relationship. The only correct way is to mutually respect each other’s choices, carry out dialogue on a foundation of equality, promote mutual understanding and advance mutual tolerance.

Some issues are those inherited from history — mainly the Taiwan problem. This issue concerns Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity, it concerns the great cause of unification, it concerns the feelings of the Chinese people — it is a core interest of China. History shows that as long as the countries strictly adhere to the principles of the three China-United States joint communiqués and carefully handle the associated issues, the China-United States relationship will not undergo serious harm because of this and have great setbacks occur. Some problems emerge in exchanges between the two countries, mainly issues in the economic and trade relationship. This is related to the level of development of the two countries’ economies and it is also has a structural cause. This requires the two sides, in a spirit of mutual benefit, in the course of deepening cooperation take the whole situation into account to solve problems and, even more, avoid the interference of political factors. Some issues, instead, require both sides to increase mutual strategic recognition and fundamentally solve the orientation issue of whether China and the United States are enemies or friends, thereby building and developing a cooperative relationship.

With the rise of China’s international status and influence, the weight of international and multilateral factors on the Chinese-American relationship is growing and opportunities and challenges exist side by side. On international and regional problems, since China and the United States are stakeholders they should be constructive partners. The problem solving styles, awareness of opinions, observation perspectives and concepts and principles of the two countries toward these issues are different. Both sides need to respect and trust each other, correctly look at the development of the opposing side and cast off a cold war mentality, calmly and rationally judge mutual strategic intent and not suspect each other and engage in actions directed at the opposing side. Instead, both sides should strengthen communication, consultation and cooperation.

Since their independence, China and the United States have each developed relations with other countries. They should not have an intent directed against the opposing side, and should promote harmony and not provoke differences. Concerning China and the United State’s third party issue, both sides should proceed from the overall situation to advance the solving of problems through consultation and cooperation, positive mutual actions and jointly searching for a reasonable path. International and regional problems should strengthen the stage of the Chinese-American cooperative partnership relationship, and cannot become the source of the two countries’ contradiction and conflict. On the state visit, the Chinese side welcomed the United States as an Asia-Pacific country which has made strides for regional peace, stability and prosperity. The American side welcomed a powerful, prosperous and successful China which has played a greater role in international affairs. Both sides’ leaders supported building an even more stable, peaceful and prosperous twenty-first century Asia through cooperative efforts. This shows the aspiration that China and the United States have broken the traditional concept of inevitable great power competition; as far as the current Asia-pacific region goes, this declaration is especially important.

Through this historical state visit, the highest Chinese and the American leaders carried out in-depth and frank discussions and exchanges on each sides’ issues, reaching varied consensus and agreement. Both sides recorded the Chinese-American joint proclamation that both sides published. The heads of state of both sides drew up a general direction for the development of Chinese-American relations in the next 10 years (or for an even longer period), and initiated a new phase that will inspire people. After a good start, the key to whether the Chinese-American relationship will have healthy and stable development is the implementation of its actions. China is a country that keeps its promises, and will cooperate in good faith for developing China and the United States. But regarding the United States, frankly speaking, there really are concerns. First of all, America has always clung to the influence of a cold war mentality, and has always seen China as “different”, harboring deep-rooted prejudices and even hostility for China, continually viewing China’s development as a threat and all along advocating restraint, containment and vigilance towards China. In addition, the many American political parties, diverse interests and variety of ideas have made it difficult to form a consistent position toward China, and the things which are agreed upon are not necessarily accepted by each party. Traditionally, the United States has always placed its own interests first for its own advantage, and often overlooks and brushes aside others to such an extent that it harms their interests.

Chinese-American relations are both important and complicated; interests and contradictions are mixed together. Many issues cannot be completely solved by one state visit. In today’s changing world China and the United States are evolving, and the relative positions and connotations of the Chinese-American relationship are also changing. New opportunities come with new challenges. Old issues are mitigated or solved, but they can still produce new problems, so both the Chinese and American sides need to sustain unending efforts. Common Chinese-American interests are the foundation of the relationship, and mutual benefit and cooperation are the main currents of development. The basic consensus is that “cooperation benefits both and fighting harms both.” The likelihood that the Chinese-American relationship undergoes a significant reversal is not great, but emerging problems and resulting partial setbacks cannot be completely eliminated. We should be mentally prepared for this, calmly handle it and strive to maintain the overall bilateral relationship. We hope Chinese-American relations will develop smoothly, but the reality is that the Chinese-American relationship is always making gradual progress along a winding path. This is the historical trajectory of more than 30 years of bilateral relationship; completely changing this is not easy.