How to make real friends with the US
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In a recent commentary in the New York Times, former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski called Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington this month "the most important top-level United States-Chinese encounter since Deng Xiaoping's historical trip more than 30 years ago."
Brzezinski's thoughts of befriending China might please Chinese folks, but were soon refuted in the US as "borderline silly" by Stephen Yates, a former official in the Bush II White House.
It is a tiring process for China to stay friends with its big Pacific neighbor nowadays. The two powers are witnessing a colossal volume of mutual trade, but their distrust is also significant.
US media often labels China as "arrogant." This No.1 power holds the misgiving that China nurses its strength to plan retaliation. Its deployment of aircraft carriers near China also triggers a sense of insecurity among the Chinese.
"Friend-or-foe" identification is often used to describe global power relations. However, it is difficult to apply such stereotypes to the China-US relationship. The US is obviously not China's enemy. Instead, it is a great partner in China's reform and opening-up, and a respected reference for China's social progress.
However, can China really see the US as a reliable, sincere friend? The answer is troubling when one thinks of recent US moves in Asia.
It is important to make friends with the US, but it is also necessary to watch out for potential risks.
The comparison of strength between China and the US hasn't changed: China is still the weaker one. China needs to gain more control, while preventing the bilateral relationship from collapsing. This promises to be a very difficult test facing China's top decision-makers.
The China-US relationship is more complex than many others in world history, such as the UK and Germany, or the US and the former Soviet Union.
History will not reveal where the China-US relationship will go. We can only seek the answer from the day-to-day reality.
The competition between the US and China is ultimately a contest of domestic prosperity and stability. A good China-US relationship usually takes place when China makes significant domestic achievements.
US challenges against China largely take advantage of vulnerable domestic affairs, including arms sales to Taiwan, meeting with the Dalai Lama as well as interference in China's justice system through supporting some dissidents.
In a bid to improve its relationship with the US, it's quite important for China to enhance its civil livelihood and further promote the reform and opening-up.
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