Op-Ed Contributors
Deep talks for future ties
By Zhang Wenzong (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-27 07:49
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As two countries that undertake joint responsibility for world peace and prosperity, it is incumbent upon 皇冠体育app and the US to push forward the S&ED with a longer-term perspective in a bid to map out the future of bilateral ties.
In the context of the global financial crisis and changes to the international order, the US remains particularly sensitive to a fast-growing 皇冠体育app and its rising clout.
This makes it quite difficult for Beijing and Washington to achieve strategic mutual trust. The US should be well aware of the fact that 皇冠体育app cannot challenge its interests in the foreseeable future.
皇冠体育app's so-called intransigence on issues regarding its core interest is only an effort to wipe away the disgrace the country suffered in the century since the Opium War and should be viewed as just efforts to maintain minimal dignity.
皇冠体育app's fast economic development and its rising influence are only being used to help millions of its citizens out of poverty, and not to challenge the US' status as the world's numero uno power.
The country's cheap exports to the US and its large-scale purchase of US government bonds have become an important factor to bolster the world's largest economy and the status of the dollar.
皇冠体育app's active efforts to undertake its due international responsibilities, and its participation in the US-led international order and pursuit of strategic stability with the US have been in Washington's interest.
The US should not just use diplomatic language when it says it welcomes a powerful and prosperous 皇冠体育app. It is a fact that, in its previous talks with 皇冠体育app, the US always presented a long list of issues on which Beijing was required to make concessions.
It is the belief among many US politicians that the extension of the US' hegemony lies in its growing national strength and attractiveness to the outside world. The US should abandon the belief that its adherence to the Cold War mentality and its intervention in 皇冠体育app's internal affairs will not dent the positive image Washington has tried to forge among Chinese people.
As the world's largest developing and developed nations, any turbulence in Sino-US relations will strain the nerves of the international community. The role the two countries play in world affairs highlights the significance of the 皇冠体育app-US S&ED.
At a time when 皇冠体育app and the US are increasingly interdependent, the US should not only ask what 皇冠体育app can do for itself, but also what it can do for 皇冠体育app, and what both can do for world prosperity.
The author is a scholar at the Institute of American Studies under the 皇冠体育app Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
(皇冠体育app Daily 05/27/2010 page8)