Time for a new model in Sino-US relations
- By James DeShaw Rae
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 23, 2015
In 1985, Xi Jinping visited the heartland state of Iowa and left with wonderful impressions of the warmth and hospitality of Midwestern farmers. He returned again to Iowa in 2012. Thirty years after President Xi's first visit to the United States as a local Party chief in Hebei Province, he now returns to America as leader of the world's second largest economy and a major global power. Xi is visiting Seattle to meet with business leaders before being officially received at the White House, and then goes on to New York to address the United Nations.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) delivers a speech during a welcome banquet jointly hosted by Washington State government and friendly communities in Seattle, the United States, Sept. 22, 2015. Xi arrived in this east Pacific coast city on Tuesday morning for his first state visit to the U.S. [Xinhua] |
In Seattle, Xi delivered a policy speech warning of the risk of strategic miscalculation among major powers and the disaster that would come from conflict between the United States and China. Instead, he suggested potential "win-win" opportunities in clean energy, law enforcement, military-to-military exchanges, and people-to-people relations.
During his official state visit on September 25, 2015, Xi will reiterate his call for a "new model of major country relations" with President Barack Obama, and both leaders will seek to fortify the relationship on issues of climate change, financial stability, economic growth, and global governance. Already, the possibility of a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) is tantalizing and could be concluded during the trip.
However, this meeting will also include topics of serious dispute that challenge the bilateral relationship. Serious friction in Sino-American relations are growing, and the noise will grow louder with an approaching American election and presidential candidates competing to criticize China on all sorts of issues.
Formal discussions between the two countries will cover cyber-security concerns on both sides and competing visions of security and international law in the South China Sea. This gathering will likely reiterate both countries' positions on these issues and be similar to the numerous such meetings over the past two decades.
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