US policy toward China wavering
- Source: Global Times
- [01:36 February 08 2010]
- Comments
Since the beginning of 2010, optimism over Sino-US relations has soon given way to dire predictions of the most complicated bilateral ties in the world. A slew of prickly diplomatic issues have upset policy readers on both sides.
Words such as "trade war" or "overall confrontation" have sneaked into recent media coverage, adding to the nervousness. But viewed in perspective, China-US relations have never been really free of storms and turbulence.
When Bush Jr. and his predecessors took office, Sino-US relations went through the same curve of going down before returning to normal. When Barack Obama took office, he embarked on a different route. As part of his conciliatory diplomatic approach, he took a soft line in dealing with China during his first year in the White House.
These have given rise to optimism about bilateral relations to a Chinese audience, which is captivated by Obama's charisma and forgets the fact that his political fate is subject to domestic politics.
Obama's soft line has upset American public. Conservative sections are especially infuriated by the president's seeming submission to Washington's competitor. So, now we are seeing the old issues emerge again.
In the drama of China-US relations, thorny issues including trade, arms sales, human rights and Tibet look like unavoidable elements. The difference is when those issues would emerge. But despite disagreements and sharp exchanges, every time the temperature rises, the two sides would eventually be brought to earth by political realities.
In early 1999, soon after President Clinton's visit to China, bilateral relations were frozen by the scandalous Cox Report and the accusation of Chinese American scientist Wen Ho Lee having stolen US technology.
In the first stages of the presidency of Bush Jr, Sino-US relations were about to be completely wrecked before US diplomacy suffered an overall setback.
In retrospect, the political costs of the downside of Sino-US relations is much more than the sum of short-term political gains.
If managed well, the negative impact of the most serious incident can be reduced. At the beginning of 1999, few would have anticipated the US-led NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, dragging Sino-US relations to a historical low. Yet by the end of the same year, the two sides inked the deal paving the way for China's entry into the WTO.
President Obama is facing a public that is growing impatient with slow economic recovery and double-digit unemployment. In this situation, when the mid-term election is drawing near, he may continue to challenge China for winning political points at home.
Obama understands the point of policy swings in dealing with China. His test would be when and how to reverse the policy.
