With the 2016 U.S. presidential nominees campaigning at full tilt, foreign policy circles in Washington are abuzz with talk of the “China Threat”, and domestic criticism of the White House’s China policy has been heating up.
Although China-bashing has always been a “favorite pastime” of American presidential candidates hoping to get an edge during election season for decades, savage attacks on China of this magnitude are unprecedented.
Some argue that the China-U.S. relationship has been on a downward spiral that has reached a turning point.
In fact, the harsh rhetoric against China is just the tip of the iceberg, and will not essentially change the dynamics of the China-U.S. relations. What really matters is the underlying cause.
In recent months, with China’s growing power and increasingly assertive foreign policy, there has been a heavy debate in Washington going on about the U.S.’s strategic policies toward China. A sort of strategic anxiety toward the world’s second-largest economy has been on the rise among U.S. policymakers and experts. They have been wondering if the White House’s China policies for the past eight consecutive administrations are too soft. They call for the next administration to take on a stronger, confrontational approach toward China, and change its long-standing China policy from what has been centered on engagement to deterrence.
The debate is still a work in process, and will directly influence the next U.S. administration’s policies toward China.
As such, David M. Lampton, a leading China expert in Washington who has long held an optimistic view on the China-U.S. relations, has warned that the China-U.S. relationship is at a “critical tipping point” that gets closer to a cliff’s edge.
It is Washington’s strategic anxiety toward Beijing, resulting from the aforementioned inherent contradictions between the two biggest economic powers, that really matters to the dynamics of the China-U.S. relations.
Thus, a healthy, stable and collaborative bilateral relationship can best be achieved through high-level talks and compromise on a number of touchy issues.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to the United States came just at this historical, critical juncture. His successful trip helped to curb the deterioration of the China-U.S. relationship, and inject fresh impetus to the new model of major-power relationship.
China and the U.S. reached a wide-ranging consensus with 49 important outcomes on the list, which covers a wide spectrum of crucial issues including investment, people-to-people exchanges, climate change and coordination in multilateral affairs, among others.
The landmark visit, which has ushered in a broad prospect for China-U.S. cooperation, further charted the course of the bilateral relationship and bolstered the two sides’ confidence in future cooperation at all levels, regardless of the rhetoric on China during the election season.
At present, the China-U.S. ties have evidently strengthened following President Xi’s U.S. visit. He will probably meet his U.S. counterpart President Barack Obama twice in 2016, paying the way for possible closer ties between the world’s two largest economies.
There are indeed some structural differences and contradictions between China and the U.S., but their common interests are ever-expanding, and are becoming more evident. The world’s two largest economies have seen an increasingly interwoven relationship as they have never been more interdependent, while many global and regional key issues hinge on their collaboration. Simply put, the two powers just cannot afford to head into a zero-sum game due to their increasing convergence of interests.
In such a framework of mutual cooperation, the bilateral relationship will inevitably remain comparatively stable in a larger context.
The United States needs to zoom out and focus on the big picture, discard any confrontational approach, and manage its differences with China in a constructive way. Only then can we witness a future in which China and the U.S. enjoy a healthy and cooperative relationship that contributes to the lasting peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and the world at large.
