China-U.S.: Key Relations Don’t Mean Good Relations

The recent level and scope of China-U.S. strategy and economic dialogue has been ratcheted up and expanded. This originally consisted of economic dialogue strategy, but it has now become strategy and economic dialogue. The rising level of dialogue is evidenced by the fact that U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner are both taking part in it.

It appears that the economic issues regarding China-U.S. strategy and economic dialogue include issues related to the economic crisis, free trade, investment protection, the financial system and the currency system. Moreover, both sides are strengthening cooperation on issues of energy and environmental protection. In terms of strategy, issues include the risk of nuclear proliferation in Asia, as well as problems in the Middle East, Iran and Iraq. It is clear that both sides are involved in security issues and concerns regarding Asia have been extended to include the rest of the world.

Ever since taking office, U.S. President Obama has been busy with the economic crisis and the U.S.’s posturing towards China has been toned down. Obama has rarely been critical of China, which is a clear contrast to the critical stance taken by the former U.S. president. With regards to the Korean nuclear arms risk, nuclear proliferation in Iran, and conflict resolution in the Middle East, the U.S. has issued statements after listening to China’s voice on these matters.

However, the limitations of U.S. policy towards China have basically remained unchanged: U.S. cooperation with India, relations with ASEAN, Japan, Korea, and U.S. policy concerning arms sales to Taiwan show that very little has changed.

At the present stage, China and the U.S. both consider China-U.S. relations to be most essential. However, it must be understood that key bilateral relations are not necessarily the best relations. These two nations are not of the same type: one is the largest developed country, the other is the largest developing country. The economic crisis has now allowed China’s power gap to narrow; therefore, cooperation is all the more necessary.

(He Maochun, Qinghua University Professor of Economics and Foreign Diplomacy)