OPINION> OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS
Sino-US ties need treaties
By Pang Zhongying (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-11 07:46

China and the United States are in desperate need of a binding treaty framework to put the world's most complicated and unruly bilateral relations on a steady and manageable development track.

As the world's largest developing and developed nations, the two have managed to deal with each other under the three joint communiqus, i.e. the Shanghai Communiqu, the Communiqu on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and the August 17 Communiqu that were issued respectively on Feb 28 of 1972, Jan 1 of 1979 and Aug 17, 1982.

The documents signed between the two governments, the communiqus have never been submitted to both countries' legislatures for approval as binding treaties because of reasons from the US side. In sharp contrast, the US Congress rushed to pass the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979 as the Carter administration decided to shift its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the Chinese mainland.

Most of the time in past decades, the unilateral American bill has been placed higher than the three joint communiqus Washington signed with the Chinese mainland in the former's handling of the US-Chinese mainland-island trilateral ties. Due to the lack of binding treaties, Sino-US relations have remained particularly fragile and precarious. Periodic US presidential elections have had their own impact and repercussions on the ties.

China has accumulated abundant experience and tactics over the past decades on how to deal with the US administration, from former US president Richard Nixon to incumbent Barack Obama. Relevant administrative departments of the two countries have also established growing contacts during the past 30-odd years. Compared with the ballooning government-to-government ties, exchanges between the two countries' legislative bodies have lagged far behind, which makes the US Congress the largest uncertain element in Sino-US relations.

In recent years, China has increasingly realized the role of the US Congress and attached more importance to developing ties with it. The visit to China in May by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, has boosted to some extent the long-sluggish ties between the two parliaments. Frequent exchanges have also made China better understand the enormous differences with the US in terms of political and social establishments. This makes it particularly necessary for the Asian nation to further adopt a more fruitful diplomatic approach toward the US Congress and expand its knowledge about the sole superpower's political operation mechanism to lay the groundwork for a steady and treaty-bound bilateral relationship.

China and the US have failed to forge a formal and treaty-based alliance to bolster bilateral ties over the past decades although in-depth exchanges and cooperation have been set up on all fronts. In the economic domain, the two countries have established a de facto alliance, an ad hoc-alike partnership that is very popular in international relations.

From 1971 to 1989, Beijing and Washington both regarded how to join hands to deal with the former Soviet Union, a common threat to both countries, as the common interest to build up bilateral relations. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the US launched a campaign of "civilization clashes" in a swathe of regions across the Middle East to Central Asia and South Asia, the so-called global Balkan Belt initiated by strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski. This has added to the US reliance on China. Washington also needs a helping hand from Beijing in its outstretched anti-terror war campaigns.

However, the cornerstone for the ad hoc-alike ties between China and the US is not based on their joint efforts to deal with the former Soviet Union threat or anti-terrorism, but is based on China's increasing openness and its accelerated integration into the US-dominated global economic system.

Sino-US relations have also been built on shared interests, including interest in peace, security and stability in general sense. It is exactly such common ground that has helped bilateral ties survive a lot of tension and conflicts over the past decades and that finally contributed to US diplomatic elites' decision to develop ties with China driven by common interests.

A steadily-advancing Sino-US relationship is also built on China's strategic "compromises" with the US, including China's decision not to challenge the US dominant position and the Asian nation's intention to adapt to a world peace "under Washington's governance". China has also shown an interest in learning from American experiences on how to play a big role in world affairs.

The global financial crisis augurs the decline of absolute US hegemony. Despite its status as the world's sole superpower, it is still difficult for the US to promote unchallenged unilateralist acts in the international arena. After three decades of rapid development, China has become an influential world power, although it faces a number of problems and challenges at home and abroad. The Asian nation's growing international clout, in step with a declining US, makes it possible for Chinese leaders to use their wisdom to adapt the country to the ever-changing world's situations and keep the momentum of China-US relations balanced.

The author is a professor with Renmin University of China.

(China Daily 08/11/2009 page8)