The increasing involvement of the US in China's relations with neighboring countries has increased the complexity of the bilateral relationship and made it even more fragile. He has even broken the bottom line previous US administrations maintained not to take sides in the territorial disputes between China and some of its neighbors.
Instead of cooperation, the Obama administration has chosen to adhere to old-fashioned rivalry and a zero-sum mentality in the Asia Pacific, and its rebalancing to the region is the equivalent to rebalancing against China.
Though Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to establishing new type of great power relationship in a landmark meeting last year, Obama's lack of adherence to this and the fact that he has allowed his China policy to be influenced by isolated incidents have made this commitment seem insincere, something that has been reinforced by his contradictory words and actions.
In the latest case, Obama said in an interview with the Economist magazine that the West needs to be "pretty firm" with China as Beijing pushes to expand its role in the world economy.
It is conceivable that with a populous China growing and its interests reaching every continent, it unavoidably touches upon the existing interests of the US.
But instead of adhering to the belief that China should conform to the rules and order established by the US in its favor, Obama, and his successors, should accept the fact that the world is changing and the existing norms need to change to reflect this.
Obama's anxiety about China is actually a kind of anxietas presenilis during a menopause period.
The US, although it is still the world's most powerful country, is no longer the superpower it was.
Therefore all the inconsistency and testiness exhibited by Obama in his reactions toward China-related affairs resembles anxietas presenilis as a slowly moving US gets overwhelmed by an anxiety attack as it tries to deal with a fast changing world and a rising China.
Instead of adhering to its traditional mentality of "listen to me and do as I say", the US should learn to sit together with China, jointly work out ways to overcome their differences and set a common agenda.
In the face of the growing presence of China and other world players, the Obama administration should shake off its rivalry mentality and modify its policies, both in its own interests and the interests of the world.
The author is a writer with China Daily. wujiao@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 08/07/2014 page8)
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