Sino-US relationship must be better defined

• Source: Global Times
• [08:19 January 18 2011]
• Comments

What exactly is the Sino-US relationship? It seems that the answer to this question will largely guide the fate of the 21st century. But global politics does not have the wisdom to answer this question.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is leaving Tuesday for the US with a major pillar of his agenda set to be redefining the bilateral relationship.

The ambiguity of this influential relationship has seemingly unnerved the world. It has also hijacked the policies of other countries. On certain issues, such as the Korean Peninsula, the two have been tied to the demand of others. 

As the two most powerful countries in the world, China and the US should clarify their relationship, and lay speculations to rest. 

It is not easy to give this bilateral relationship a clear definition, but perhaps they can start from what it is not. Occam's Razor teaches that the more wrong definitions are excluded, the clearer the right one will become.

The US has been running the table on how to position Sino-US relations. Former President Bill Clinton declared it a constructive strategic partnership.

But it has retreated from those heady days. The word "partnership" is still mentioned, but no longer recorded in official documents, replaced by terms such as "constructive cooperation" or "stakeholders." It shows the US' misgivings in taking China as a friend.

But is China a foe of the US? US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates openly stated that China is not a potential enemy of the US. Attempts to drive a wedge between the two countries have not gained traction in the US and the West.

President Hu's visit will be placed under a global microscope. It is good timing for Washington to declare that China and the US are not enemies today, and will not be in the future. This clarification will remove many uncertainties that may jeopardize global stability.

Any amount of China-US confrontation will cause trouble that is difficult to fix. That China and the US are not enemies should be demonstrated in actions, not simply diplomatic remarks.

But recent activities by the US, including securing military alliances with China's neighboring countries, supporting anti-China political exiles, selling weapons to Taiwan, have confuse the world as to its true intentions

It is often said that the US needs a strategic foe to stimulate its growth. We would rather believe this is a joke. Up to the US to laugh along with us.