Picking out threads of China's future

• Source: Global Times
• [03:12 July 14 2010]
• Comments

GT: You were an adviser on Chinese policy to John McCain during the presi-dential campaign in 2008. What are your comments on Obama's policy on Sino-US relations?

Schriver: I would say it is still a work in progress. I think he has only been in office for less than two years and there are ups and downs. I think the Obama administration has certain priorities in the relationship, such as economic rebalancing, climate change, and cooperating over dealing with Iran and North Korea.

And I think at this point, I personally am disappointed with the level and quality of US-China cooperation on these issues. And China has its priorities, such as Taiwan and other sovereignty questions. I imagine we have not made very much progress there either.

So both sides have their respective priorities and we don't cooperate too much on these issues. Relations are kind of stable. The atmosphere is OK. We just had 200 plus US government officials in China for the Strategic & Economic Dialogue in May. But, we Americans are very impatient people. We want concrete results and we just don't see much. Personally I would rate Obama C- on these issues.

GT: If McCain had won, would things have been better?

Schriver: It is hard to imagine, because that's the past. I think one thing that would be different is that we had planned a different trade policy in Asia. But I think the structure of Sino-US relations, no matter who is the president, and no matter which party is in power, is very difficult to change.

GT: In 2049, will China still face the same kind of wealth and regional gaps as it does now?

Schriver: This is a very hard problem to solve, even though the Chinese government has recognized that it exists and is trying to work on it. It's very hard to eliminate these gaps. There are certain problems that are getting worse, such as the aging population, and there are major demands on resources like investment in rural areas.

Healthcare is another tough issue, and one where, perhaps, from my reading, the situation in the past with the rural doctors was actually better.