Xi's trip to help reduce misunderstandings between China, US

The presidential election in the United States and the 18th Party Congress in China are likely to throw up more challenges and uncertainties for Sino-US relations this year. The forthcoming visit to the US by Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping therefore needs to be seen as an important event at a critical juncture.

Findings from the Gallup poll conducted in February 2011 have revealed that the Americans in general have a complicated perception of China. Nearly 52 percent of the Americans surveyed in one of the polls indicated that they consider China as the leading economic power globally, rather than the US. But such findings obviously overestimate China's economic weight. At the same time concerns over the rise of China have also been increasing in the US.

Ever since the normalization of Sino-US relations, right from the Reagan administration, the US approach toward China has basically been one of engagement, aimed at shaping China's development in a manner that is conducive to US interests. During and after the global financial crisis, there has been a sea change in the perception of people in both countries as China's economic strength has grown, while that of the US has declined. As a result, confidence of people in China has grown, while in the US it has been a case of anxiety and fear over the decline.

Fortunately, top leaders and high-level officials from both sides are committed to comprehensive, constructive and cooperative relations. It is precisely for this purpose that many mechanisms and channels were set up over the last 20 years to address various issues related to bilateral relations.

The war on terror, nonproliferation, clean energy, prevention of pandemic diseases and stabilizing the situation in the Taiwan Straits, the Korean Peninsula and the global financial markets are all visible and undeniable evidences of Sino-US cooperation.

After the US withdrew its troops from Iraq and is in the process of doing so in Afghanistan, the pivot of its global strategy has moved to Asia with China an integral part of the strategy.

Thomas Donlion, the National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama, had recently indicated that the future economic development and security challenges for the US remains linked to Asian development. That is also one of the principal reasons why the US was returning to Asia.

However, some right-wing conservative academics and politicians also see this as an opportunity to stem China's rise and encircle China. Presidential candidates and US congressmen are eager to use China as a whipping boy, and often blame President Obama for appeasing China and losing jobs to Chinese companies. Such accusations and media hyperbole makes the so-called Chinese economic and military threat to the US more prominent, and hence triggers negative perception of China among average Americans.

But in reality, the different perceptions can be traced to the deep-rooted cultural and ideological differences that exist between the two countries.

For example, the Chinese value collective rights and sovereignty. Hence they normally favor a non-interference approach. On the other hand, Americans cherish their hard-earned personal rights and treasure individualism. Similarly while China believes that there should be different models of global development, the US advocates that its development model is the right one for the world.

Vice-President Xi's forthcoming visit to the US should hence be seen as an opportunity to mutually address these issues and also understand one another better.

It is also a good opportunity for the US side to clarify its recent moves in the Asia-Pacific region, and whether it means that the US is readjusting its engagement policy with an encircling policy or otherwise.

It is quite possible that Xi will reassure the US side that China's reform and opening-up policy will continue, and that it has no plans or intention to exclude the US in the region, and that it welcomes the US to play a constructive role for peace and prosperity in the region.

Vice-President Xi is also planning to visit Iowa and California states to catch up with old friends and acquaintances from an earlier visit. It will certainly attract American media attention. It will also provide another opportunity for the US to review its relations with the world's second largest economy and debate for a more coherent China policy.

The author is an associate research professor with the Institute of American Studies under China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily 02/10/2012 page7)