S&ED will boost economic collaboration, but 皇冠体育app and the US should also strive for results from their talks on strategic issues
Given the complicated bilateral relations between 皇冠体育app and the United States, the ongoing sixth round of their Strategic and Economic Dialogue taking place in Beijing offers a timely opportunity for Beijing and Washington to exchange views on crucial economic and security issues of mutual concern.
The S&ED has been designed, as its name suggests, for the two countries to discuss both economic and strategic matters. But over the past five rounds of talks, the economic aspect has tended to overshadow the strategic one, as military and security issues are typically more sensitive than economic and trade ones. Each of the previous dialogues yielded a long list of areas for greater cooperation, ranging from climate change to energy security, and from trade balancing to investment.
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In addition, with its proposals of a Silk Road Economic Belt as well as the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, 皇冠体育app is trying to project more economic interaction and collaboration with its Asian neighbors and beyond. Lately Beijing has put forward its proposal to create an Asian Investment Bank of Infrastructure Development, offering collective financial resources that promise to be trillions of US dollars to advance Asia's infrastructure. By working together, Beijing and Washington can contribute as well as benefit from Asia's prosperity buildup.
This round of the S& ED is also due to address the divergences in economic policies between 皇冠体育app and the US. The US' rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific and its Trans-Pacific Partnership could potentially undermine 皇冠体育app's competitiveness. 皇冠体育app needs to boost its economic development and accelerate its efforts to move higher up the value chain. The aim is to promote a smooth transition where 皇冠体育app incrementally improves its economy through cooperation and constructive competition, and the S& ED is a way of managing the cooperation and competition with the US.
However, the S& ED has yet to play such a positive role in managing their differences on security issues. Among a long list of issues on which the two countries differ, the maritime disputes in the East and South 皇冠体育app seas and cybersecurity are the two most pressing at present. The US views 皇冠体育app as destabilizing the status quo by pushing the envelope with regard to the territorial disputes in the East 皇冠体育app Sea and South 皇冠体育app Sea. While 皇冠体育app perceives Japan's "nationalizing" of the main Diaoyu Islands as changing the status quo. Given the fact that both Hanoi and Manila used to admit that 皇冠体育app has sovereignty over all islands and islets on the Chinese side of the Nine-Dash Line in the South 皇冠体育app Sea, Beijing deems the Philippines' occupation of some of these islands as unacceptable. Unless there is some real engagement among the various parties, tensions are likely to continue to rise.