Two days ago, US President Joseph Biden held first telephone talks since he took office with Xi Jinping, leader of People’s Republic of China. In talks, leaders of both great powers touched upon the number of issues, such as bilateral relations, fighting COVID-19, climate change, human rights issues in China, and the situation in the Indio-Pacific region.
It should be noted that the United States under the Trump presidency avoided cooperation and strengthened competition with China. Trump pushed the US in trade war with the second-largest nation along with increasing his country’s military hegemony in the coastal waters of China.
It does not still seem what circumstances will occur in the geopolitical and geo-economic arena by the US and China in the period of next decade.
Further to clarification of prospects for the diplomatic relations between the United States and China, Dennis Etler, expert on Chinese studies, shared his views with Eurasia Diary. Mr Etler holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California, Berkley. He conducted archaeological and anthropological research in China throughout the 1980s and 1990s and taught at the college and university level for over 35 years.
- Trump had an aggressive attitude towards China in his tenure. Is there a possibility for better cooperation between the United States and China in the period of Biden administration?
- Realistically speaking, Trump’s posturing toward China was a total failure. The trade war he initiated has been acknowledged by impartial observers to have been a complete and utter flop. Chinese exports have risen and US exports have fallen. Sanctions against China’s High Tech sector prompted China to enhance its domestic industry so it can be more self-sufficient. Trump’s gunboat diplomacy in the East and South China Seas and the Taiwan Strait has led China to increase its vigilance. His Secretary of State’s bombastic rhetoric only reinforced China’s determination to stay the course in its domestic policies. Finally, Trump’s vendetta against China due to COVID-19 backfired as China has led the world in supplying pandemic related medical teams and supplies, and COVID-19 vaccines to developing nations and emerging markets. Nonetheless, Trump’s relentless China bashing was reflected in a barrage of negative publicity in the Western media and an anti-China consensus has emerged in US political circles.
Biden has thus inherited a failed China policy, but he has little leeway in opening up a constructive dialogue without being accused of being “soft on China.” As a result, he has to toe the line in taking a rhetorical hard line towards Beijing. In response to Trump’s failure to deal effectively with China Biden has pledged to work with US allies to forge an “Alliance of Values” to challenge China and “hold it to account.” But the days of US moral certitude and leadership in world affairs is long gone and US “values” have been shown to be valueless, corrupt and hypocritical. Its allies are more interested in trade and investment deals with China than tying themselves to America’s coattails.
Biden is left with few options. He has to first get his own house in order before he can engage in “extreme competition” with China. The best he can do is to re-engage to some extent and bide his time (no pun intended). Whatever actions he takes against China will be symbolic and of little consequence.
- Would the cooperation between the US and China have a positive effect on the security and stability in the world?
- In a post-COVID-19 world, peace, security and stability will be essential for the world’s economic recovery. China effectively contained and controlled the pandemic within its own borders, as have a number of other East and Southeast Asian countries. The US, UK and EU have not fared very well and their economies are still struggling. The largest developing nations, such as India, Brazil and Mexico have been hard hit by the pandemic, as have other countries in Latin America. China is once again in a position to lead the global economic recovery as it did after the world financial crisis in 2009. It is, therefore, in everybody's interest for the US and China to put aside their differences and work together to achieve security and stability in the world.
- Biden in his talks with Xi underscored his concerns about China’s crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang and increasingly assertive actions toward Taiwan. Do you think that US’s persistence on interference with China’s domestic affairs will impede the normalization of bilateral relations between two great powers?
- The three issues of Chinese policy in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan all relate to China’s core national interests and are non-negotiable. It is indisputable that the US and its surrogates have attempted to foment tensions in all three areas in order to destabilize China and gain geopolitical advantage. Insuring Chinese sovereignty and national security in Hong Kong is not a crackdown against democratic rights, it is necessitated by calls for independence that give aid and comfort to China’s adversaries. Combatting separatism and homegrown terrorism in Xinjiang instigated by foreign forces does not constitute any infringement of human rights, and opposing efforts to back Taiwan’s move towards independence is not being aggressive, it is protecting China’s national sovereignty from outside efforts to undermine it. If the US persists in its attempts to challenge China’s core national interests, the realization of full normalization of bilateral relations between Washington and Beijing will be thwarted. The ball is squarely in America’s court.
- Biden also told Xi it was US priority to preserve a free and open Indio-Pacific region. In order to strengthen the security and stability in the region, both sides should come to understanding of the issues of Indio-Pacific. Please tell us, how could it be realistic for two great powers to make concessions in this regard?
- As long as the US seeks to maintain its military hegemony in the Asian Pacific and Indian Oceans it will be in conflict with China which is rising its regional and global power. It is unrealistic to think that China will cede its near coastal waters and long-standing sovereign claims to the importuning of foreign interlopers. The US has to realize that China is not going away and that it is not about to relinquish its position in the region. Until it does so tensions will remain high.
Interviewed by Yunis Abdullayev