U.S.-China ties to improve under re-elected Obama

As Americans started a new day with a re-elected President Barack Obama, experts in politics, foreign relations, and business in Chicago predict that U.S.-China trade and economic relations will be positive in Obama's second term.

"The good news is that we know what President Obama has stood for in the U.S.-China relationship," Marshall Bouton, president of Chicago Council on Global Affairs, told Xinhua in an interview, regarding the significance of Obama's victory to the U.S.-China relations.

Bouton said that in his first term, President Obama has worked for the improvement of the U.S.-China relations and was not "someone who bashed China on trade issues."

Many China experts have stated that they consider U.S.-China relations to be the defining relationship of the 21st century.

On Monday night, U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke commented in a webcast that the world's two largest economies have a shared interest in working together. He said conflicts between an arising power and an established one was not inevitable and the two countries must forge their relations based on mutual respect and mutual benefit.

Ambassador Locke made the remarks live from Beijing at the 6th CHINA Town Hall, a national day of programming on China, held by the National Committee on U.S. China Relations (NCUSCR).

"The U.S. needs to work with China and has to work with China," Dennis Chookaszian, retired chairman and CEO of CNA Insurance Companies and professor at University of Chicago and Cheung Kong University, said in an interview with Xinhua.

Chookaszian pointed out that the two nations are deeply linked together and inter-dependent on each other. For instance, China needs the U.S. market for its export of products, and the U.S. needs China for the purchase of its debts.

"Pushing the Chinese currency to a higher price will end up in driving the price in the U.S. to a higher level, resulting in inflation," he said.

Chookaszian acknowledged that there was a lot of talk about "standing up to China" during the presidential campaign but he dismissed it as campaign rhetoric.

"In reality, it will be to the best interest of both China and the United Stated that the two countries develop a better trade and economic relationship," he continued.

Moving forward, Chookaszian believed there would be less blockage or fewer attempts to hinder the further development of the relations with China than it was in the past.

David Hale, founding chairman of David Hale Global Economics, told Xinhua that he expected President Obama to have a continuity of his China policy.

He said the trade between U.S.-China had more than doubled over the past five years and believed it to double again in the next few years.

"There will be trade sanctions (against China). But trade issues will come and go," Hale said. "The trade between the U.S. and China will have a steady growth."

Bill Spence, co-chair of the China Committee at Chicago Sister Cities International, considered the re-election of President Obama a "good sign" to the U.S.-China relationship. He said: "The mutual dependency between the U.S. and China will continue in the foreseeable future."

"I think there is a recognition in the Obama administration ... that China is an important trade partner for the U.S., not an enemy to be feared of," he said.

Spence believed President Obama's policy toward China has been measured and controlled, and if the economic development can be brought back to balance, it will benefit both China and the United States.

"I believe, economically, the relationship between the two countries will continue on a positive path."

Former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who is traveling in Singapore, predicted President Obama's win in the election. He told Xinhua via his Chicago office that President Obama "will continue to foster good relations between the U.S. and China because doing so is good for both countries."

Among the many roles that Daley has been working on since his departure from Chicago's City Hall is co-chair of President Obama's 100,000 Strong Initiative, which aims to increase the number and diversify of American students studying in China.

"Whenever there is better understanding of other cultures - their economy, their traditions, their priorities for education - it is a win-win for both sides," he added.