U.S.-China Mutual Trust Committee
The U.S. in the 21st Century
In his book, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom, John Pomfret, a journalist with extensive experience in China, traces the relationship between U.S. and China from 1776 to the book’s publication in 2016 as a series of enchantment followed by disappointment. The Beautiful Country 美国 (Měiguó) is a direct translation of the meaning of the Chinese name for the U.S. and reflects Chinese deep admiration for the country as a whole. The Middle Kingdom 中国 (Zhōngguó) expresses the ages-old concept that China is the country/kingdom in the center /middle of the world.
In recent decades, relations with the U.S. and China have been in constant flux, with numerous challenges for policymakers. Here are several thoughtful presentations by recognized experts who urge seeking common ground and mutual respect, advice that can be taken on by individuals on a people to people basis.
Jessica Chen Weiss — A pioneer advocate for seeking common ground between the U.S. and China and for promoting cooperation between the two countries:
The China Trap: US Foreign Policy and the perilous logic of zero-sum competition
A World Safe for Autocracy? The domestic politics of China’s foreign policy
https://chinacenter.umn.edu/past-events/world-safe-autocracy-domestic-politics-chinas-foreign-policy
America and China Don’t Need to Knock Each Other Out to Win: China and the United States should invest more resources in a vision of success not defined by undermining the other
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John Thornton — Navigating the Future of U.S.–China Relations: On Friday April 28, 2023, John Thornton, Director of the Global Leadership Program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and former President of Goldman Sachs, led a conversation about Navigating the Future of U.S.–China Relations in the Amir and Zaib Husain Auditorium on the campus of the University of Texas Austin. In his presentation, Thornton made the following key points:
“China is the largest trading partner with 170 countries who are not supporting the U.S.-led sanctions against Russia.
Missed opportunity – John Kerry, in conversation with Xi Jinping, received an invitation from Xi for the U.S. to join China in its One Belt, One Road Initiative. On the advice of officials in Washington, Kerry did not deliver the invitation.
If the Chinese say they are going to do something, chances are they are going to do it. The One Belt, One Road Initiative is an expression of that. The goal of common prosperity is the Chinese version of fixing income inequality.
The 2000-year-old national examination system in China still exists. Of the 10 million students who take the yearly examination, the top 3000 will be admitted to the prestigious Qinghua University. The Chinese Communist Party, aka the Central Government, consists of the best and brightest minds in China, a meritocracy just as it has always been.
All the students at Qinghua know 100% of what is going on outside of China, despite all the fire walls. While among the American elite knowledge of China is very thin, the converse is not true among the Chinese. We need many more Americans in China.
There is a fundamental disconnect in U.S. policy on China: if you want to build a relationship with or make a judgement on China, you must meet with the Chinese. The most important aspect in U.S.–China relations is building relationships based on trust. For sure, you need to gain their trust.”
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Chas Freeman — Former U.S. Ambassador and China expert in an interview with EIR’s Mike Billington: “I think unfortunately, the natural American response to any international development at present is to view it through military eyes. Therefore, there is a suspicion that The Belt and Road has a geopolitical military purpose. I don’t think it does. I think it is a geo-economic outreach, which takes advantage of the fact that China now has the best infrastructure construction technology and equipment on the planet. That it has surpluses of materials for construction, like concrete, aluminum, steel and so forth. And it has experience in solving very difficult engineering problems, and it is applying this to create a potential economic community that will span the entire Eurasian landmass from Lisbon to Vladivostok, and north from Arkhangelsk to Colombo, as well as parts of East Africa.
This will be an open economic architecture based on connectivity, whether it’s roads, railroads, fiber-optic cable, ports, airports, industrial estates or whatever. And I think the Chinese bet is that in such an open environment, China’s size and dynamism would give it a natural leadership role. But this is very different from imagining the sort of military positioning that we characteristically try to impose on such developments.
I think the proper response by the United States to the Belt and Road Initiative would be to take advantage of it. Somebody builds a road, let’s drive an American car down it. Someone connects Tokyo and London with fiber optic cable, let’s use that to improve the speed of trading on the stock market. If someone builds an airport, there’s no reason that only Chinese aircraft can use that, and so forth and so on. I’m very impressed actually, by the extent to which the Belt and Road Initiative is not just physical connectivity, but a series of agreements on the management of the transit of goods, openness to services, improvement of customs and immigration procedures, and bonded transit between China and Europe and a third country or region. I think this is a great opportunity, if it’s approached in that way, for American business, for the American economy.”
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Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies —
Launched in June 2023, Advancing Collaboration in an Era of Strategic Competition is a project undertaking “a multiyear initiative to advance U.S.–China coordination in an era of strategic competition. Through historical case studies, practitioner and expert workshops, public events, proof of concept exercises, strategy reports, and translations of Chinese perspectives, the project will diagnose barriers now impinging on collaborative efforts and develop a playbook of best practices to improve the frequency and effectiveness of such efforts across a range of functional areas.”
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Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft — Michael Swaine and Andrew Bacevich of the Quincy Institute argue in their recent paper “A Restraint Approach to US–China Relations: Reversing the Slide Toward Crisis and Conflict” that a variant of the restraint approach – centered on a more credible balance between military deterrence and diplomatic reassurance, the reprioritizing of U.S. national security threats, and more cooperative and inclusive economic and technological initiatives – offers a better chance of stabilizing the U.S.–China relationship and protecting U.S. interests.”
Swain further states that the world is already in a multipolar order: the U.S.’s unipolar status has already ended. A strong defense for the purposes of military deterrence, for both the U.S. and China, does not have to mean global dominance.
On the issue of Taiwan, Kirsten Gunness noted that as China listens to rhetoric coming from the U.S. and Congress, it feels that it must react. Therefore, toning down rhetoric on both sides would be desirable. Over the short term, Swain felt that the U.S. can continue its strategic ambiguity policy and help Taiwan to defend itself. Over the long term, however, if there were an escalation of a nuclear threat from China and the U.S. continued its zero-sum game, then it would make little sense for the U.S. to be involved in Taiwan’s defense.
In conclusion, Swain suggested that the U.S. needs to change its mindset and drop the zero-sum approach. We need a clear vision that neither the U.S. nor China wants to dominate the world in the future. We need the ability to make a middle ground where both sides are willing to give. This will provide a space for suggestions. We need to alter the framing and admit that there are limitations on both sides.
Ongoing opinion polls have found that the people in the U.S. are having a more favorable view of the people of China.