China and the US should reflect on how they can help each other and the world, both economically and strategically
The two-day China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) concluded in Beijing on Tuesday. The two countries reached a consensus on a range of issues, and the meeting, by and large, was fruitful.
Coming in the thick of bilateral fracas, the gathering of high-level officials for frank dialogue on issues of common concern was by itself a strong signal of their sincerity and desire to improve ties.
The "sit-together" gesture by Beijing and Washington is also good news for a world struggling to recover from the effects of the global financial crisis.
The roller-coaster relationship, from a transient honeymoon after the Obama administration came to power to a subsequent chill and then the current thaw, is testimony to its complexity, fragility and flexibility.
Sino-US ties are so complex that some scholars have compared the relationship to that of a couple who often quarrel but never divorce.
Globalization has already tightly bound the two influential countries; their interests have become increasingly interwoven.
In the second round of the S&ED, compromises were made by both sides on the economic and trade front - China vowed to continue its reform of the exchange rate regime and the US agreed to relax restrictions on hi-tech exports to China.
Promised cooperation in the development of electric vehicles, energy-conservation efforts in construction as well as work on clean energy sources speak volumes about the importance attached to the transformation of both economies.
The two powers also agreed to promote more people-to-people contacts; this will help remove misgivings and enhance mutual understanding.
A single meeting cannot resolve all existing differences.
Thorny issues, such as US' arms sales to Taiwan, Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, Google's exit from the Chinese mainland as well as human rights matters, were not part of the agenda during the just-concluded dialogue.
Beijing and Washington also failed to ink a win-win resolution regarding their industrial development policies, and the Iran and Korean Peninsula nuclear issues.
Even so, the move to set up such a top-level dialogue mechanism to resolve their differences is a positive step.
US concepts, such as "shares-holder", "strategic reassurance", and the "group of two", or Chinese constructs, such as "peaceful rise", "peaceful development" and "harmonious world," are proof of both nations' aspirations to free themselves from geopolitical repercussions caused by a changed international political landscape and to avoid a possible conflict between a recognized superpower and an emerging power.
As two countries that undertake joint responsibility for world peace and prosperity, it is incumbent upon China and the US to push forward the S&ED with a longer-term perspective in a bid to map out the future of bilateral ties.
In the context of the global financial crisis and changes to the international order, the US remains particularly sensitive to a fast-growing China and its rising clout.
This makes it quite difficult for Beijing and Washington to achieve strategic mutual trust. The US should be well aware of the fact that China cannot challenge its interests in the foreseeable future.
China's so-called intransigence on issues regarding its core interest is only an effort to wipe away the disgrace the country suffered in the century since the Opium War and should be viewed as just efforts to maintain minimal dignity.
China's fast economic development and its rising influence are only being used to help millions of its citizens out of poverty, and not to challenge the US' status as the world's numero uno power.
The country's cheap exports to the US and its large-scale purchase of US government bonds have become an important factor to bolster the world's largest economy and the status of the dollar.
China's active efforts to undertake its due international responsibilities, and its participation in the US-led international order and pursuit of strategic stability with the US have been in Washington's interest.
The US should not just use diplomatic language when it says it welcomes a powerful and prosperous China. It is a fact that, in its previous talks with China, the US always presented a long list of issues on which Beijing was required to make concessions.
It is the belief among many US politicians that the extension of the US' hegemony lies in its growing national strength and attractiveness to the outside world. The US should abandon the belief that its adherence to the Cold War mentality and its intervention in China's internal affairs will not dent the positive image Washington has tried to forge among Chinese people.
As the world's largest developing and developed nations, any turbulence in Sino-US relations will strain the nerves of the international community. The role the two countries play in world affairs highlights the significance of the China-US S&ED.
At a time when China and the US are increasingly interdependent, the US should not only ask what China can do for itself, but also what it can do for China, and what both can do for world prosperity.
The author is a scholar at the Institute of American Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
(China Daily 05/27/2010 page8)