While his boss criticized in a Twitter post that China had “done little to help” on Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released positive signals on the cooperation between China and the United States during his China debut.
Although there are divergent perspectives on the deployment of THAAD system, trade issues and DPRK’s nuclear issue, Tillerson expressed his expectation for the Sino-U.S. bilateral relations that can only be defined by cooperation and friendship.
The United States is looking forward to the first meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump. In talks with President Xi, Tillerson said Trump places a “very high value” on communications with the Chinese president, and Trump looks forward to visiting China in the near future. Even though few details of the talks have been released, China and U.S. media focus on Tillerson’s words about “non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation”, which was interpreted as a virtual endorsement “new type of great power relations”.
外交部部长王毅（左）与美国国务卿蒂勒森（右）
China proposed a "new-type of great power relations" these years in hopes of constructing the cooperative bilateral relations, and avoiding conflict with the United States, but the United States did not agree and respond positively to such a proposal. In the past few years, ex-President Obama avoided giving a positive and direct response to China's proposal, and the U.S. high-level officials also avoided mentioning the core content of such a proposal.
Instead, the Obama administration’s signature policy in the Asia-Pacific was a “pivot” or “rebalance” to reflect the growing importance of the region to U.S. national interests, and to shore up American primacy in the Western Pacific. Consequently, Chinese observers consider the “pivot” or “rebalance” is an attempt to contain China's rise.
For China, Tillerson’s recent words will be seen as an acceptance, which will treat China as an equal partner. The worlds can also be taken as a reassurance that U.S. isn’t looking for a negative shift in the relations between the two countries. However, due to the lack of trust between the two countries, as well as the historical experience which accumulated from the long-term subtle complex game, Tillerson’s “moderate and positive” argument requires time to test.
To abandon the blind and optimistic expectations, and adopt a "watch and see" policy is a rational choice for China. For a long time, the problem of restricting the positive interaction between China and the United States lies in the fact that Washington's political elite still does not give up the already outdated Cold War ideology and the zero-sum game thinking mode.
Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the United States should use its own language to describe bilateral relations, not embrace China’s. Ely Ratner, who worked as Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s deputy national security adviser and is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the words of Tillerson was a “big mistake and missed opportunity”. The words “will only encourage Chinese assertiveness and raise doubts in the region about the future of U.S. commitment and leadership in Asia”. These remarks from the U.S. scholars are dark clouds over Sino-US relations.
2017年3月18日，国务委员杨洁篪在北京钓鱼台国宾馆会见美国国务卿蒂勒森。
For the friendly cooperation between China and the United States, China has been doing more than the United States, and the future of Sino-U.S. interaction requires the U.S. to give more positive response and effective feedback. While we consider the bilateral relations, a truth must be reckoned with: unlike the U.S.-Soviet relations during the Cold War, China and the United States are neither friends nor foes. The traditional mode of interaction between great powers does not necessarily apply to China and the United States, the two countries need to explore new ways of communication and cooperation.
Days before Tillerson’s visit to China, U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State Susan Thornton at a news briefing said the U.S. is “pursuing a result-oriented relationship with China”. During Tillerson’s visit, President Xi said to Tillerson, “The joint interests of China and the U.S. far outweigh the differences, and cooperation is the only correct choice for us both.” The joint interests will facilitate the formation of the satisfactory outcomes between China and the United States. More and more positive outcomes will help the two countries to move towards the next goals and enhance cooperation.
We do not know whether Trump is serious about Sino-U.S. new type of great power relations. But Tillerson's message during his visit should be recognized by Trump, and Tillerson's statement about the construction of a new relationship between China and the United States is also the result of Trump's core team's ideas. Trump is in the "learning period" of making foreign policies, the Sino-US relations are also in a new round of "the adaption period", and both sides look forward to realizing the Sino-U.S. summit as soon as possible.
The successful summit will contribute to lowering the cost of exploring the Sino-U.S. cooperation, expanding the common ground for the two countries, and creating new space for formally building "new type of great power relations".
原题：The coming new type of great power relationship?
作者：陈菲，察哈尔学会研究员、华中师范大学台湾与东亚研究中心研究员
文章来源：APD News 2017年3月21日
（图片来源于网络）