Developing the US-China Relationship Requires Vision and Wisdom

Taking Stock of the Situation

What is the future of the relationship between China and the U.S. — the two most important nations in the world? What should the future of the relationship be? Many people around the world are considering this question, and many also have doubts about it. This year is a presidential election year in the U.S. and Chinese issues are increasingly becoming hot topics. The U.S.-China relationship could be put to the test. More importantly, with all of the changes brought about by China’s rapid development, both the U.S. and China need to engage in dialogue, utilize U.S.-China strategic and economic mechanisms, enhance mutual understanding and trust and expand bilateral cooperation.

It is even more necessary, however, that they gain a deeper understanding of the future global structure in the 21st century and the general trend of developing bilateral relations. Only in this way can China and the U.S. explore building mutual respect and cooperate on the path to a new win-win relationship between world powers.

During the 1980s, when the U.S. put sanctions on China, Deng Xiaoping said that it is only right for relations between China and the U.S. to improve. This is a correct judgment on U.S.-China relations made by a great figure over 20 years ago. Even after over 20 years, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and following China’s rise and the financial crisis that shook Western countries, profound changes are occurring in the global structure. After just 10 or 20 years, China’s economic output will surpass that of the United States, thus becoming the number one economic power in the world. Yet the need to keep improving U.S.-China relations is an extremely important strategic decision. This determination is an important precondition for encouraging development of bilateral relations. If China and the U.S. can both preserve this common understanding, then U.S.-China relations can withstand any test.

Ensuring that the U.S.-China relationship continues to improve is in line with the individual development needs of both countries as well as the demands of global development. Recently, the Project Syndicate published two articles which gave a very good interpretation. One was by Nobel laureate in economics Michael Spence, entitled “Reinventing the Sino-American Relationship.” Spence emphasized that over the last three decades or so, the two countries have benefited from their contact with one another. Many different technologies were transferred from the U.S. to China, making China’s labor-intensive exports more competitive and promoting its economic growth. At the same time, American consumers enjoyed the benefit of lower priced goods. In the future, even if both countries face the challenge of a changing structure, the core of bilateral relations is clear: “China needs U.S. innovation to grow, and the U.S. needs Chinese markets to grow.” This article has been widely republished in both countries’ media, which shows that even if Spence was merely stating a basic idea, it received widespread attention and approval.

Collaborating to Solve Mankind’s Problems

The other article, “A World Adrift,” was by Professor Jeffrey Sachs of America’s Columbia University, a special advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. He indicated that geopolitics is moving from unipolar to multipolar. Global economics are becoming less stable and less sustainable. Under these circumstances, global governance is weakening, provided public goods are insufficient and the global economy is facing an upsurge in the price of goods. Additionally, issues are emerging with resources and the environment, which demands the joint cooperation of all nations, or else the world will have even greater problems. Sachs tells of yet another dimension of U.S.-China relations that must be considered: Following the development of globalization, more and more countries are moving on a path toward modernization — and mankind is facing more and more problems. Countries are increasingly facing shared challenges. With China and the U.S. being the world’s two most influential powers, they should develop more of an attitude of responsibility to mankind and to the world, and more sincerely engage in cooperation to address global issues. Thus, it is only right that relations between China and the U.S. continue to improve.

To achieve improvement in U.S.-China relations, both the U.S. and China need to work together. As for the U.S., first, it must treat China’s rise correctly. The U.S. has already sufficiently recognized that there is no way to stop China’s rise. Yet the attitude that although there is no way to constrain China’s rise, the process of China’s rise should be slowed is not right either. This attitude leads the U.S. to take all kinds of “small actions” against China. In the short term, these “small actions” seem to benefit the U.S., but they are not good for establishing strategic trust between the two nations. In the long term, however, they are detrimental to the establishment of genuinely good bilateral relations.

Recently, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official published an article in Huanqiu Times aimed at the United States’ addition of military bases on China’s periphery, as well as its high-profile pronouncements that it is “returning to the Asia-Pacific.” Copying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “Seven Questions for China,” he made a list of “Strategic Doubts on America’s China Policy.” The two countries have a relationship kind of like a husband and wife; if one side always acts in a way that is harmful to the marriage, how can both parties solidify their relationship and pull together in times of trouble? Not to mention, the U.S. needs to move beyond its ideological shackles. When it comes to China’s social system, the U.S. need not take these troubles to heart, but instead stand back and look at these issues from a strategic point of view. China’s system of step-by-step reform is beneficial to global stability and to American development. Moreover, from the perspective confronting humankind’s increasingly serious common challenges in the 21st century, when fascism was defeated at the time of World War II, the UK and the U.S. were able to cooperate with the Soviet Union, despite its completely different social system. Could it be that it is now even harder for China and the U.S. to engage in sincere cooperation?

As for China, first it must constantly adjust and acclimate to the demands of its changing role brought about by its own development. China has already become one of the most important global societies. Even though its own domestic problems are numerous, amid the changing global winds, it is already true that China cannot merely develop itself single-mindedly. China needs to give more consideration to global development and international issues; it needs to take a more active role. Some think that China needs to adjust its foreign policy of “concealing one’s strengths and biding one’s time”; it should be said that this is reasonable. Next, as China and the U.S. develop their relationship, the need to break free from the shadow of “conspiracy theories.” They should recognize the present mutual suspicion in U.S.-China relations. Many of America’s previously mentioned “small actions,” especially its testing of China’s bottom line, makes China very uneasy. However, China does not need to be so sensitive, as its interpretation of America’s actions has been excessively negative. Where did U.S.-China relations go wrong? The U.S. cannot speak ill of China, but China must also have confidence as it builds its relationship with the U.S.; staying calm is very important.

On the other hand, China wants to exclude irrational voices that interfere in the U.S.-China relationship. Now that China has entered into the era of universal diplomacy, people from all realms of society will voice their opinions. This will require the Chinese government to listen carefully to all ideas, and to ensure that the overall U.S.-China relationship remains friendly and does not waver. As for the idea that China is always prone to the flexing of muscles and such saber-rattling, it must develop more social resources in order to dissolve conflict and shape favorable domestic public opinion.

Regardless of whether the 21st century is led by the United States, China and the U.S. together or even by China alone, it is necessary for these two most important powers to improve relations. Only in this way can the world move forward and develop peacefully. Should U.S.-China relations break down, or should the countries collide, that would be mankind’s misfortune.

The author is a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University.