Sino-US relations this year witnessed a rocky start. The two countries were bickering over, among other things, President Barack Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lamar, US arms sales to Taiwan and the RMB exchange rate. Despite the fact that the two governments tried to make President Hu Jintao’s attendance at the nuclear summit in New York in April and Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in May as turning points for the betterment of this bilateral relationship, they were unfolding a second round of displeasure and dissatisfaction with each other this summer. Military and security issues stood out prominently. The media and public opinion became more critical and acrimonious in the two countries. Moreover, senior Chinese and American officials responsible for military and foreign affairs came to verbal confrontations first at the Shangri La Conference in June and then at the ARF meeting in July. As Sino-US relations are linked with the general trends of global developments, these rounds of tensions have caught the attention of the world.
As part of the joint efforts for damage control and opportunity seeking in Sino-US relations, early September saw the visit to Beijing by two senior American officials: Lawrence Summers, Director of the White House National Economic Council, and Thomas Donilon, Deputy Assistant to the US President for National Security Affairs. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao as well as other key Chinese leaders involved in Sino-US relations met with the American visitors. It was reported that the two sides had productive talks on both current and medium- and long-term issues. The suspended military-to-military exchanges look likely to resume as the Chinese side expressed its readiness to receive Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The foreign and security communities on both sides have started talking about President Hu’s possible visit to the United States early next year. At least the general atmosphere is being improved but some still wonder if this is just a brief respite in tensions or a re-charging of momentum in Sino-US relations.
A reexamination and reflections on the two countries’ strategies, policies and practices of their relations are needed before the target of positive, comprehensive and cooperative relations between the two countries can be achieved.
First of all, both China and the United States must adopt new approaches towards the changed and changing domestic environments. One of the recent changes in both countries is the increasingly influence of domestic factors in Sino-US relations. With the uncertain post-crisis economic prospects and political agendas, both governments give first priority to domestic consideration, such as generating economic growth, creating job opportunities, meeting people’s socio-economic demands and maintaining political stability. Moreover, domestic calls for being firm and tough on foreign relations are mounting. The hardliners on each side quote their counterparts to vindicate themselves, thus not only mutually reinforcing each other but also greatly limiting the two governments’ flexibility in handling bilateral differences.
Therefore, the two governments must strike a balance between global challenges and local politics and economies. Both China and the US must realize that its counterpart is a pluralistic and diversifying society, that each government has to be responsive to its domestic pressures, and that they must better understand each other’s domestic factors. Given the fact that China and the US are different in many aspects, the learning process is long and difficult. The two governments should attach greater importance to domestic agendas in their formal and informal exchanges, including summits and S&ED. The respective functional departments, areas and circles should respect the other side’s laws, regulations, practices and traditions. The two countries’ academic and media circles should encourage studies and researches so as to dispel misconceptions. Their grass-roots organizations should promote more extensive and intensive interaction so as to lay a solid foundation for this very important relationship.
Besides, the two countries must properly and in time readjust their relations fitting to the new conditions between an established power and a rising one. In modern times, China and the US have traversed differently. For centuries, China had a painful and humiliating encounter with the West but now finally is on the path of rising and reemergence. The US enjoyed constant expansion in most of its history. However, it is now confronted with a soft-landing from the mentalities of a sole superpower to a multi-partnership with other players. In this context, Sino-US relations have already transcended bilateral issues and extended into regional and global ones. Particularly, the two countries have to interact on reforming the existing international system.
In various degrees, both China and the US are beneficiaries of the current international system, which serves as the cooperative basis for the two countries. Both countries prefer an incremental reform of the current international system and agree to give greater say to emerging powers through peaceful negotiations. Their similar standings on the role of G-20 and reform of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are welcoming signs. However, their principled agreement on the need to reform the system does not automatically translate into concerted efforts on various real issues.
On the global level, China and the US are re-assessing geo-politics and geo-economics based on the changes in power distribution and contemplating reforms to the international system. While reaffirming its determination of maintaining American leadership, the US needs to discuss and negotiate with China and others the roadmap and timetable for reforming the international system. On the regional level, on such issues as the Asia-Pacific cooperation framework, maritime security and Korean Peninsula situation, China and the US need to expand their convergence and narrow their divergence so as to establish a regional order that benefits all parties concerned. In addition, the two countries also have differences over the Iranian nuclear issue, Myanmar situation and Central Asian changes.
Last but not the least, the two countries should not only complement their material wealth with each other but also work at common values, concepts and ideas of the new period. Many of the Sino-US disputes can and should be traced to their cultural and ideological differences. Cold War mentality still lingers on. Value and conceptual differences on democracy, human rights and development models complicate the national interests issues. Soft and smart powers are being referred as a means to overwhelm rather than attract the other. Prejudiced and stereotyped images are often behind the outraged emotions and feelings. Therefore, after several decades of material exchanges in terms of trade and investment, the two countries are meeting the future with the tasks of concept-convergence and consensus-building.
However, if we look carefully and in a forward-looking manner into the value and conceptual differences, they are actually not as big as they seem to be. In these times of globalization and in the face of new challenges, the two countries are working at nurturing common values, concepts and ideas. During and after the financial crisis, China and the US have found greater conceptual similarities: They have advocated the same-boat spirit, called for coordinated steps, agreed to no-challenge and prior/post consultations, and dialogue. Looking into the coming decades, the two great powers and peoples have more intertwined interests and closer exchanges. Increasing two-way trade, investment, travels and student exchanges mean the gradual removal of misconceptions and steady creation of more accommodating concepts. Moreover, the two great nations are gradually shaping their common stand on environmental protection, enhanced quality of life, low-carbon economy, and higher sense of responsibility as major powers in the world.
After all, the long-term and perpetuating impacts of values, concepts and ideas will become increasingly important when Sino-US relations develop more extensively and intensively. The two sides should attach even greater importance to these non-material and intangible factors and make greater efforts in the fields of philosophy, culture, education and mass media so as to lay an even more solid basis for the future development of Sino-US relations.
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