Foreign Minister Wang Yi's speech in Beijing on Wednesday has provided a clear vision of China-U.S. relations ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the U.S. next week. It is a vision of how the world's two largest economies can work together to build a better future not just for the two nations, but also the whole world.
Wang's speech addressed the skepticism many people have about a fast rising China. He did not avoid thorny issues such as the tension over maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea and cybersecurity. But China will respect international laws, push for peaceful settlement of the disputes and fight cyber crimes together, he said.
More importantly, Wang pointed to the huge potential for China and the U.S. to work together in areas such as bilateral trade, investment and student exchange, as well as serious global issues like the Iran nuclear agreement and fighting terrorism.
The China-U.S. Climate Leaders Summit held in Los Angeles this week where cities, provinces and states from the two countries promised to take concrete actions to reduce carbon emissions showed how the two countries can work together and take the lead for the benefit of their countries and the world. This is another good example for the UN climate conference in Paris in December after the China-U.S. landmark climate agreement in Beijing last November.
And in Washington last week, 15 early-career Afghan diplomats gathered at the U.S. State Department for a joint training program conducted by China and the U.S..
The list of such China-U.S. cooperation is long.
However, the two countries are far from exploiting the full potential of cooperation because of deep strategic distrust. In fact, growing distrust between the two countries could threaten cooperation when and where it's badly needed.
While China does need to make more efforts to show that a rising China is peaceful and beneficial to the world, there are lot of adjustments the U.S. needs to make. One of these is how much space the U.S. is willing to leave for a rising China in the region and the world, where the U.S. has long been a dominant power, and how the U.S. can get used to a China that is becoming increasingly influential worldwide; for example, it is the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries.
The U.S.' early opposition to the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and misreading of China's intention in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative to improve connectivity across the region show that the U.S. indeed needs to change its mentality.
In his speech, Wang unequivocally acknowledged that the U.S. is a global power and a member of the Asia-Pacific community. Also, U.S. leaders, including President Barack Obama, have repeatedly said the U.S. welcomes the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China.
But John Hamre, president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, hit the nail on the head on Tuesday when he said China knows that it cannot exclude the U.S. and the U.S. knows that it cannot contain China, yet the two countries have to figure out how to work together and not exclude other countries in the region.
Indeed, many people who care about China-U.S. relations have been worried about a drift toward strategic rivalry between the two countries. Clearly neither wants to be a subordinate to the other.
This is why the upcoming summit between Xi and Obama has acquired added importance: the two leaders have to halt the drift by reflecting a shared vision of the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century. It should be a vision of cooperation and collaboration and a vision that will overcome disagreements and differences.
The author, Chen Weihua, is deputy editor of China Daily U.S.A.
