Leaders’ Mutual Trust Is Crucial for China-US Relations

Chairman Jinping Xi is about to visit three countries in Central and South America and meet with President Obama at the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Estate, California, U.S. This is an important step for China’s diplomacy since its leadership change. In its first couple of months, China’s leadership has been making an impression. The footsteps of China’s leader will cover all continents of the world, presenting the layout of China’s diplomacy under the new regime in all directions.

The “manor meeting” this time is an innovation. In the past, China’s leaders have mostly visited for state business, occasionally for work, but this type of “manor meeting” is very rare. “Sunnylands,” Walter and Leonore Annenberg’s estate, is an important location that has been visited by seven U.S. presidents, has received the queen of England and other important foreign guests, and is known as the “West Coast Camp David.” In such a serene and elegant environment, the two countries’ leaders can be more relaxed, more candid, discuss issues of mutual interest more comprehensively and communicate more effectively. This also shows that China’s leader is now more confident and Sino-U.S. relations more mature.

Currently, there are more than 90 communication and cooperation platforms for strategic and economic conversations between China and the United States, but face-to-face meetings between the leaders are still the most important mechanism and the highest level of strategic conversation between the two countries. When Nixon and Mao Zedong met and discussed “philosophy,” the reasoning behind it was to look at and grasp Sino-U.S. relations from a general, overall, strategic long-term perspective and not be limited to specific issues. Since then, the leaders of the two countries from one generation to the next have been doing just this, focusing on the longer term, overcoming obstacles and pushing Sino-U.S. relations forward. The “manor meeting” this time also provides an important opportunity for the two leaders to explore together the creation of new relations between major powers. Once the overall position of Sino-U.S. relations is resolved, it will be easier to handle the specific issues.

Establishing personal trust between leaders can play a crucial role in strengthening strategic mutual trust between two countries, especially in dealing with thorny problems. There is always mutual trust between the chairmen of China and the presidents of the U.S., so in the “ice-breaking period,” Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai had mutual trust with Nixon and Kissinger, and in the normalization period, Deng Xiaoping had mutual trust with Carter and Brzezinski. Face to face meetings between the leaders where they can freely exchange views on various issues is essential for establishing mutual trust between the two sides. The “manor meeting” this time is the first meeting with the leader of China for Obama in his second term of great significance.

Currently, both China and the United States are making domestic policy a priority. Due to high economic interdependence, the domestic problems of the two countries have to some extent also become problems in bilateral relations. The two sides can help each other to achieve their domestic policy goals; the development of one party will benefit the other party. China can help the U.S. create jobs and realize the plan to double exports. Applying the same principle, the economic recovery of the U.S. can also help China’s export growth. Since the financial crisis, the G-20 has repeatedly stressed the importance of strengthening national macroeconomic coordination. These are important changes that globalization has brought to international relations.

The meeting this time is a good opportunity for the two countries’ leaders to fully communicate and promote a mutual understanding. We look forward to the complete success of this “manor meeting.”

The author is an honorary academician of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences