Principles for principal powers

China, US must cooperate to develop clean energy and green resources to show their commitment to resolving global issues

Neither China nor the United States can afford to ignore some major principles at the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Washington, which begins on May 9.

The dialogue is a concrete step toward materializing the broad consensus reached by President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama during Hu's state visit to the US in January.

Despite the cropping up of new differences, China-US relationship has made great progress in the past 32 years with bilateral cooperation and mutual dependence maturing into a mutually beneficial partnership.

China has drawn worldwide attention and even been depicted as a threat for its resilient performance during the global financial crisis. But it still pales in comparison with the US in terms of economy, military, science and soft power, which can be considered China's weak links.

China and the US still need each other and can benefit from each other's development, which is what the two countries meant when they said in the January joint statement that they were aiming to build a partnership based on mutual trust and mutual benefit.

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The S&ED is expected to cover a wide range of topics, among which the weak links should get the greatest attention.

In spite of being part of the most important bilateral partnership in the world, the two countries, for example, still lack basic mutual trust in military relations, which is preventing their partnership from consolidating further. Building mutual trust and respect is just the starting point of pragmatic cooperation across the Pacific Ocean.

If China and the US can construct a stable and solid relationship, they can exercise more positive influence on regional and global issues, which in turn will strengthen their bilateral relationship.

For instance, peace and development in the Asia-Pacific region is subject to a stable China-US relationship. As history shows, situations on the Korean Peninsula and in Vietnam have affected relations between China and the US in the past.

The latest example of how China-US ties can suffer because of tensions on the Peninsula was the exchange of fire between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in November.

Hence, China and the US should jointly shoulder the responsibility of maintaining regional stability and avoid taking actions that could worsen existing situations.

The two countries should strengthen cooperation and coordination and work together with related countries to defuse the tension on the Korean Peninsula and facilitate early resumption of the Six-Party Talks.

On the South China Sea issue, related countries should handle the problems through consultations and communications instead of taking unilateral action.

Global challenges will also test the capabilities of China and the US as the most important players in global governance in the early part of this century. Some analysts have termed the process as globalization of China-US relationship.

The joint statements issued in November 2009 and January 2011 by China and the US clarify their standpoints on the common concerns of humanity, such as terrorism.

Non-traditional security, which has become a big problem, poses a challenge to almost all countries in the post-Cold War era. No country can deal with the problem single-handedly. The problem can only be solved through the joint efforts of the international community, especially big countries such as China and the US.

China doesn't believe in the concept of G2 (China and the US), but nobody can deny the importance of Sino-US cooperation for global governance. Obama has rightly emphasized the necessity of China-US cooperation for global governance.

The two other impending problems in the global governance mechanism are the unfolding global financial system reform and climate change.

As the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases and oil guzzlers, the US and China have to take timely actions, for which the two countries should accord top priority to bilateral cooperation in the development of clean energy and green resources as well as related technology transfers. This will convince the rest of the world that China and the US are committed to addressing the common concerns of all human beings.

The author is a senior research scholar with the Center for US-China Relations at Tsinghua University.

(China Daily 05/07/2011 page5)