Partners on cutting-edge frontier

China and the United States could collaborate on a host of high-tech projects that are mutually beneficial

China and the US need common ground. How to find this magic land? (Finding grounds of contention, even of confrontation, is sadly not hard.) Sure, there is thwarting terrorism, avoiding financial crises, containing global warming, preventing infectious diseases, interdicting drug trafficking and fighting organized crime. Important, but these deeds are good because they proscribe bad things. What about good deeds that promote good things?

Our best bet is on technology, where benefits are synergistic, not zero-sum; accretive, not depletive; multiplicative, not (necessarily) competitive. With technology, the more you use it, the more you have it. Green technologies and alternative energy are exemplars. A priority, I suggest, should be information technology because IT enhances all aspects of contemporary society and improves multiple facets of human lives.