Xi lauds ‘new positioning’ in Chinese ties with US
Following his summit with US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping praised a “new positioning” in relations with the US, which envisages cooperation with measured competition.
Trump’s visit to Beijing, the first by a U.S. president in nearly a decade, runs through Friday as the Iran war has sapped approval ratings at home ahead of midterm elections.
According to a statement from China’s foreign ministry, Xi said both leaders agreed that establishing a “constructive, strategically stable relationship” would guide relations in the next three years and beyond.
Xi said such ties are primarily based on cooperation but also on moderate competition for “a normal stability in which differences can be controlled and a lasting stability in which peace can be expected,” the ministry said.
Analysts said the reference to “constructive strategic stability” shows that China is following phases in relations that provide a framework for diplomacy within which it can manage multifaceted ties with the United States.
China’s new framework echoed the “constructive strategic partnership” formulation proposed in 1997—the most positive since the end of the Cold War—and signaled China’s desire to put relations on firmer foundations.
China framed its relations with the United States in terms of partnership and cooperation in the 2000s and early 2010s.
But increased rivalry and rivalry after China overtook Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy in 2010, as well as Xi’s rise to power in 2012 and Trump-induced volatility since 2016, have resulted in a language of managed interdependence, strategic competition and conflict avoidance.
Wang Wen, a professor at Beijing Renmin University, said the new framework marks a significant move away from past “negative characterizations” such as great power rivalry.
“The key distinction lies in the emphasis on a positive model of interaction marked by cooperation as the mainstay, along with moderate competition, manageable differences and the prospect of a predictable peace,” Wang said. he said.
“This is new language, and I think it reflects China’s desire to put more institutional barriers to U.S.-China relations, both in terms of competition and cooperation,” said Joe Mazur, a geopolitical analyst at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China.
Xi, who hosted a state banquet for Trump on Thursday, said China and the United States “should be partners, not rivals.”
But frictions such as the Iran conflict and recent US sanctions on Chinese firms continue to “complicate US-China dynamics” and could test the durability of the new framework, said Zhao Minghao, an international relations expert at Shanghai’s Fudan University.
Even when talking about cooperation, Xi emphasized that the United States was being “extremely careful” in handling the issue of Taiwan, a democratically governed island claimed by China, although Taipei denied the claim.
“If mismanaged, the two countries may collide or even enter into conflict, which could drag the entire China-US relationship into an extremely dangerous situation,” the Chinese leader said.
Xi also raised eyebrows by asking “whether the two countries can overcome the ‘Thucydides Trap’ and create a new model for relations between great powers.”
Popular in foreign policy studies, this term expresses the idea that when a rising power threatens to displace an established power, the result is often war.
Xi has been using the term for years, but Trump’s use of the expression of optimism was notable and foreshadowed the comments he would make behind closed doors about Taiwan.
with AP
