China-US expert expresses optimism about prospects for future relationship
John Milligan-Whyte, chairman of the Center for America-China Partnership in New York, was dubbed by some Chinese media as the “new Edgar Snow” and the “21st century Kissinger” due to the positive role he played in boosting the relationship between China and the United States.
His sentimental connections with China largely come from his wife, Dai Min, who grew up in Changsha, Hunan province, and left China in 1988 to study abroad. MilliganWhyte met Dai in 1997 at a restaurant in New York and proposed to her the very next day.
“Dai Min is an irresistible woman. I was normally shy at that time, but I went over, introduced myself and bought some tea for her,” the 66-year-old said with a wide smile. The courtship, however, wasn’t so easy and they didn’t actually marry until seven years later. Then, Milligan-Whyte began to meet the Chinese people in all walks of life.
As a businessman, lawyer and moral and political philosopher, Milligan-Whyte has witnessed the ups and downs of China-US relations over the decades since, and sensed strongly how significant the world’s most important bilateral ties will be to everyone on the planet.
He said the United States and China must align their economic and national security, as that is essential for the two largest economies in the world to peacefully coexist in the 21st century.
In 2009, Milligan-Whyte and Dai co-authored and published the America China Partnership book series, which include “America and China’s Emerging Partnership: A New Realistic Perspective,” “New China Business Strategies: American and Chinese Companies as Global Partners,” and “US-China Relations in the Obama Administration: Facing Shared Challenges.”
Washington and Beijing have to be partners, Milligan-Whyte said: “The two largest economies cannot engage in financial or military wars. So in order to coexist economically, they have to align their national security.”
As this year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Beijing and Washington, Milligan-Whyte said he had high esteem for the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, the first Chinese leader to visit the United States shortly after the two countries established diplomatic relations on Jan 1, 1979. He said he read about Deng in 2005.
Deng said “there was not going to be a nuclear war. We don’t need to prepare for a nuclear war. We need to strengthen our country’s economies and well-being. I thought that was a very encouraging voice of leadership in the world,” MilliganWhyte said.
Deng’s policy was that China should be unaligned in hostilities between nations, and always aligned with peaceful coexistence, he added.
During the 1979 US visit, Deng met then US President Jimmy Carter and other American politicians, accepted interviews and visited Ford’s assembly plant and NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Deng commented there were many areas between China and the United States in which they can cooperate and many channels through which they can communicate.
However, Milligan-Whyte said he found no reference in some foreign affairs books about the concept of peaceful coexistence that Deng had emphasized in dealing with diplomatic relations, which has been an integral part of China’s foreign policy.
“All the American scholars and think tanks are writing about China without taking peaceful coexistence seriously, and few Americans understand the principle of peaceful coexistence,” he said.
Bilateral trade and investment have risen rapidly over the past 40 years. Trade volume between China and the United States was less than $2.5 billion 40 years ago. In 2017, it surpassed $580 billion. Two-way investment was almost zero when ties were established, but the total amounted to more than $230 billion in 2017.
Coupled with rising business links are increasing people-to-people exchanges. Only several thousand visits were made between the two countries 40 year ago, but last year, over 5.3 million visits were made between the two sides.
Speaking of trade frictions, Milligan-Whyte said he is concerned, and said the protectionist policy that the US administration adopts will lead to big problems not only for the American economy, but the world economy overall.
He attributed the disputes partly to the domestic problems of the United States, which resulted from the failure of politicians to look after the needs of the entire society as well as current economic problems and the nation’s long-term decline.
With its emergence, China’s economy is becoming larger than that of the United States due to the fact that China’s population is four times larger, has a stable system of government and is still at an early stage of full economic development, he said.
“That creates a huge shock --emotionally, economically and politically, and policymakers in the US have great difficulties in finding a workable solution,” he added.
Milligan-Whyte and Dai are working on two books – “Moral Authority and Mankind’s Future: China and America’s Responsibilities” and “The New School of Thought for US-China Relations” -and plan to have them published this year.
He said the old school of US-China relations focused on how the United States can remain the world’s dominant economic geopolitical power, which leads to fear that catastrophic economic and military conflict is inevitable. However, he added, the two largest economies should, would and could avoid the confrontations and conflicts.
Milligan-Whyte expressed optimism about the future China-US relationship: “The younger generations don’t see China simply as another Soviet Union to be knocked down. Younger generations understand they have to find a way to deal with China.”
China now has helped America find a way to balance its economic growth and China’s growth, Milligan-Whyte said, adding the two countries have to figure out how to align their economic and national security.