U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is making a two-day visit in China. Although her visit seems a little "sudden," it is natural for President Barack Obama to send a senior official to visit China at this critical moment of the election year considering the importance of China-U.S. relations and a series of international and regional issues urgently needed to deal with.
In this case, the United States needs to think about and deal with some China-related issues well.
First, China is not a challenger of the current international order.
China is not the former Soviet Union which sought hegemony. With the ambition of rejuvenating itself, it is pursuing self-reliance and has shown rising momentum, but does not use the "zero-sum" thoughts to formulate and implement foreign strategy. It advocates reforming the unreasonable components in the existing international order and system based on the wills of most countries, but does not attempt to subvert it.
It welcomes the United States to play an active role in the peace, stability and prosperity of Asia-Pacific region as a member state. It is willing to work with other Asia-Pacific countries including the United States to build the economic, trade and security order in the region and strengthen consultations and coordination with the United States on the economy and trade, Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Iranian nuclear issue and Syria issue. It is not in line with the fundamental interests of the United States to push China to the opposite side with the "zero-sum" thinking.
Second, do not challenge China’s core interests.
China is no longer the weak old China bullied by others. It is committed to a peaceful development and defends its core interests relying on the growing position of strength, including territory, sovereignty, security, unity, stability and development. Respecting each other's core interests is the key to ensure a healthy development of the bilateral relations, which has been explicitly written into the important political documents reached by China and the United States.
