By Yuan Peng
The main theme of China-US relations is no longer ideology,
human rights, Taiwan or trade, but the fast growth of China and how
the US should respond.
In what form China chooses to grow and how the US assesses the
direction in which China is heading will become the most important
factors affecting the development of bilateral ties.
China has already answered this focal question resolutely and
clearly. From the moment China's strategic analysts, such as Zheng
Bijian, concluded that China should take the road of "peaceful
development" to the Chinese government formally publishing The
White Paper on Peaceful Development of China, consensus has
been reached.
The gist of the shared view is seeking a peaceful international
environment for China's development and protecting world peace
through her growth. This consensus has been gradually reflected in
a series of policies and practices in foreign diplomacy in recent
years.
In concept or philosophy, the Chinese government has also
formulated new thoughts about global affairs centered on "a
harmonious world," a new definition of security built around mutual
trust, mutual benefit and cooperation, a new foreign relations
guideline based on development, peace and cooperation, a new set of
policies concerning China's periphery centered on maintaining peace
and friendship with our neighbors and helping them prosper, and a
new pattern of broad international relations focused on
partnerships.
In practice, China has played an active role in many
international organizations, in sharing such humanitarian duties as
peacekeeping and providing emergency aid overseas, in attempting to
resolve regional conflicts such as the nuclear issues on the Korean
Peninsula and in Iran, in cooperation on anti-terrorism and
anti-proliferation to enhance global security.
China has contributed a great deal toward regional and global
economic growth through its own fast development. It is precisely
for this reason that the international community now thinks China's
"soft power" is growing quickly, hence the mounting prominence of
"China opportunity" as opposed to "China threat" theories.
For China, following the path of peaceful development is the
right choice fitting in with the characteristics of the times as
well as China's historical and cultural traditions. In fact, it is
the soul of Deng Xiaoping's theory about socialist development with
Chinese characteristics.
Looking at it from a broader angle, one can also find references
in Mao Zedong's vision of the development of a new China. Back in
the mid-1950s, Mao concluded: "China should become stronger but
always amicable to other countries. And China should be modest, not
only now but be so 40 or 50 years later and forever."
This shows it was neither a new slogan nor just a propaganda
gimmick when China chose to take the path of peaceful development.
It has been following the same guideline all along. It is a
sustainable endeavor of China to go for peaceful development.
The future development of China-US relations will depend not
only on whether China chooses to take the path of peaceful
development but also on whether the US can make an objective and
precise strategic assessment of China's peaceful development and if
it can honestly and sincerely accept a peacefully developing China
that seeks to be part of the global system as a peacemaker.
It should be safe to assume the American public as well as the
government are seriously thinking about this historic question and
have arrived at an initial answer. As shown by US Deputy Secretary
of State Zoellick's speech focused on China at a National Committee
on US-China Relations gathering in New York City on September 21
last year, and a number of more recent speeches by President Bush
and top officials such as Secretary of State Rice, the US has
assumed a new strategic posture toward China that includes
acceptance rather than all-round containment, guidance instead of
outright rejection and replacing deliberate confrontation with
cooperation.
But America's China strategy still contains some areas of
uncertainty: 1) The relatively rational and positive nature of the
China strategy presented by Zoellick and others has not become a
nationwide consensus and whether it will be a long-term strategy
remains unclear.
2) The US acceptance of China's peaceful development comes with
a series of conditions. With this "conditional acceptance"
Washington is ready to label China "irresponsible" whenever it
deems the latter's development not conducive to its interests or
not in the way it wants. This is not fair to China at all.
3) Some harmful factors are growing in US politics that threaten
to derail the development of China-US relations. For instance, the
trade sector is turning from a supportive force behind bilateral
ties to a disruptive one; the anti-China faction is gaining
strength in the US Congress.
4) The US has been slow in translating the above-said positive
thinking about China's peaceful development into action. Instead,
it has been gearing up its military alliance with Japan, enhancing
its strategic partnership with India and upgrading the real status
of its "unofficial" ties with Taiwan. All these undertakings smell
of China containment one way or another.
As such, the future development of China-US relations will
depend mainly on the orientation of America's China strategy. China
has, in theory and action as well as from the perspectives of
history and actuality, shown its sincerity and determination in
pursuing peaceful development. Now it all depends on whether the US
will understand correctly the strategic intent China has expressed
and formulate a relatively long-term, stable and proactive China
strategy accordingly.
The author is vice director of the Institute of American
Studies under China Institutes of Contemporary International
Relations.
(China Daily January 26, 2006)
