Are China and the US missing opportunities?

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Beijing Review, January 6, 2016
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First, the threat of terrorism to the civilized world has commanded global attention. With non-conventional security risks becoming the primary concern, people across the world are getting a clearer view of the situation.

I remember when 9/11 took place in 2001, we described terrorism with a Taoist quote, "a semblance great, the shadow of a shade" (daxiang wuxing ). Now, terrorism has moved out of the shadows, challenging the civilized world in stronger and more visible ways. However, in terms of response, the international community has yet to forge effective solutions.

The Syrian crisis, for one, is a grave outcome resulting from too many complicated and entangled factors, such as big power rivalry, religious conflicts and sectarian feuds, all mixing together and making it next to impossible to even try to solve.

Recently, the most asked question is whether the international community is countering terrorism in the right way. Within China, debates are also taking place as to whether China should get involved and if yes, how? As a matter of fact, China has put in significant diplomatic efforts in helping untie the knot through a political solution. For example, the UN-backed Geneva Conference on Syria was first proposed by China.

The more important question is, can the international community recognize and acknowledge the real political changes underway and agree on collective efforts to ensure global common security?

Second, as traditional geopolitical rivalry manifests itself again, the world's major powers see more diverging than converging interests among themselves. For instance, the tension caused by geopolitical rivalry between Russia and the United States as well as its European allies was demonstrated in the Ukrainian crisis, even leading some to ask whether a new cold war had started.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the United States intends to fuel another geopolitical contest by entangling itself in regional disputes in the South China Sea and enhancing its military alignment. The United States' biggest concern in the Asia-Pacific is the so-called "power shift," or the possibility of being "pushed out" of the region by China. Such a mindset has been interpreted as the U.S. meddling in the problems China has with its neighbors, which risks elevating territorial disputes into strategic rivalry.

One example is of the U.S. warships coming near to and aircraft flying over the Chinese islands in the South China Sea. Such testing of China's resolve and tolerance will significantly increase the risk of accidental confrontation, which is against the two countries' common interest in maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea. If this does not constitute a security hazard, what does? When entangled this way, how could the two countries confront together the bigger and real challenges the world faces?

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