2014 ends on positive note for US, China(2)

Maritime disputes

To Zha Daojiong, a professor at the School of International Studies of Peking University, the most noticeable low point of China-US relations in 2014 came in a highly visible display of mutual acrimony over maritime affairs in the East China and South China seas.

Zha cited that at the Shangri-La security forum in Singapore in early June, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel called China a "destabilizing" actor, and it led to his Chinese counterpart labeling the US as "provocative".

Hagel's words came right after Obama's remarks made at the US Military Academy at West Point at the end of May that China's economic rise and military reach worries its neighbors, according to Zha.

"A series of summits on regional security were due to take place in the latter half of the year. Beijing and Washington were seemingly moving down a sure path of open confrontation, with China's maritime neighbors caught in between," Zha said.

The US has been eager to assure its treaty allies, in particular Japan and the Philippines, both of which have historical maritime territorial disputes with China.

While the US stated that it does not take a position on sovereignty but it does take a position on a peaceful resolution of disputes, many Chinese see US behavior as emboldening those nations to take a confrontational attitude in the disputes.

Zha said the good news is that the joint statements produced at the ASEAN Regional Forum and East Asia Summit did not replicate the same fervor over maritime security. "In addition to efforts by China and the US to tone down the temper, Southeast Asian states demonstrated their capacity to avoid further escalation as well," he said.

Li from Brookings said he would give a grade of "B" to China's performance in the region in the first half of the year and an "A" in the second half.

In Li's views, the Chinese have become more proactive in its diplomacy in the region since the sixth China-US Strategic & Economic Dialogue in Beijing (S&ED) in July, citing the trips by President Xi to Russia, India and South America and the meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the November APEC summit.

"This demonstrates that Chinese foreign policy has become more mature," he said.

However, Li cautioned that problems such as territorial disputes won't be solved anytime soon and will remain a long-term challenge.

Silk Road

While both US and Chinese officials have toned down confrontational rhetoric, many experts have expressed disappointment that that the US has failed to show support to positive roles played by China on the regional and global stage.

Senior US officials raised doubts about the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) proposed by China, while World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and many countries in the region openly welcomed the multilateral bank that seeks to finance infrastructure development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Many in the US have also seen China's Silk Road initiatives, both the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, as aiming to expand China's geopolitical clout rather than serving as a platform for economic connectivity in the region as China stated.

China announced on Nov 8 that it will contribute $40 billion to a Silk Road fund for projects that facilitate connectivity along the belt and road.

Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the Obama administration made a mistake trying to encourage US friends and allies not to be part of the AIIB.

Paal dismissed the doubt expressed by US officials regarding the governance and transparency of AIIB, saying that Chinese Vice-Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao has given a lot of assurances.

To Paal, a former vice-chairman at JPMorgan Chase International, the AIIB "has a lot of potential" and the Silk Road "makes a lot of sense".

"It's good for the Central Asians. They need trade routes, and they need places to employ their young people," he said.

Paal said the US should work with China on the Silk Road. "That's a shortfall of American imagination," he said.

Former US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman also expressed his disappointment at the Obama administration's attitude on AIIB in a Dec 18 talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.