Positive signals seen on China-U.S. ties
The United States and China are going to be locked into strategic competition for a long time
Beijing, China (Xinhua) — Following the telephone conversation between Chinese President Xi Jinping and United States President Joe Biden on 11 February ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the global community has seen several positive signals on China-US ties.
At the Lanting Forum, held in Beijing on Monday, leading figures including high-level officials and experts from
the two countries and beyond gave their insights on how to bring the China-US relationship back onto the right track.
Competition sans confrontation
Acknowledging that the China-US relationship is going to be “competitive in every domain,” Henry Paulson, former secretary of the US Treasury Department, called for minimizing the likelihood of debilitating conflict while making progress on areas of mutual interest.
“The United States and China are going to be locked into strategic competition for a long time. So, it is in each of our interests that competition would be as healthy as possible without unnecessary confrontation,” he said, adding that the two countries must decide how and where to compete and how to avoid conflicts.
Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is now president and CEO of Asia Society, believes that the years ahead will be “a make-or-break decade” for China-US relations, as the competition between the two countries for global leadership will intensify.
“The hard truth is that no relationship can ever be managed unless there is a basic agreement between the parties on the terms of their management,” he said.
Rudd proposed the concept of “managed strategic competition,” which involves three pillars: establishing certain hard limits on each country’s security policy; accepting the reality of continuing competition for strategic and economic influence; and finding room for continued strategic cooperation on critical global challenges.
“For example, the one-China policy as articulated in the joint communiques between the United States and China is critical. Ending the Trump administration’s unnecessarily provocative actions on Taiwan will be important,” Rudd said when elaborating on “hard limits.”