March 13, 2021

An empathetic China-US relationship is vital to face much bigger global challenges

By: Azhar Azam

Under former President Donald Trump, the US has been quite demanding on cooperation. He had an obsession to use allies and partners as an instrument to magnify American power, extend influence, shape the international environment to advantage and identify areas of cooperation with competitors from a position of strength through military means.

His successor Joe Biden covets to lead with diplomacy and encounter rivals also from a position of strength by bolstering alliances and widening the circle of cooperation because the US strength is multiplied when it combines efforts to “address common challenges, share costs and widen the circle of cooperation." He believes by restoring US credibility, he would ensure America, not China, sets the international agenda, allowing the country to prevail in strategic competition with not just Beijing but any other nation.

Apparently, two approaches take diverse tracks yet push for one shared thread – the US should unilaterally control the world, American cooperation isn’t universal and allies must embrace stated foreign policy goals of the respective administrations. The ambitions seek partners to shore up the US national security strategy with stark warning they dare not defy the US and better show no audacity to compete with Washington.

The renascent US nationalism contravenes international law that gives every state the right to protect its national interests and dragoons the law of nations serve American objectives. It further belittles norms of reciprocity and mutual respect and enervates the UN Charter, which is binding on all member states and codifies major principles of international relations from sovereign equality to prohibition of use of force.

In a pandemic-driven forever different world from 2017 when Trump took over, the Biden administration needs to radically change the US bullheaded belief, refrain from forcing international law down to the US national interests and set about working with all states without exception to develop a constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation.

The US relationship with China, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says, is the “biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century.” That’s not because a stable and open international system is being challenged by Beijing; it’s for Washington’s galactic and worldwide supremacy is under threat from Chinese economic, diplomatic, military and technological power.

As one of the key US officials in the Obama administration, the longtime Biden confident realizes that western democratic model cannot be promoted or imposed through costly military interventions or by trying to topple “authoritarian regimes by force.” There seems to be a change in the new US government as it is replacing its myopic lens and looking at the world with “fresh eyes.”

It augurs well for the planet that sensing the world is at inflection point and no country can alone act against global challenges such as pandemics, climate crisis, cyber threats, international economic disruptions, terrorism and proliferation of nuclear weapons – Biden asserted to welcome Chinese cooperation on issues attached to climate change, global health security, arms control and non-proliferation.

Biden has also committed himself to multilateralism, returned to global institutions, pledged to restore international cooperation and vows to head off a costly arms race, reduce the role of nuclear weapons and engage China and Russia in meaningful arms control negotiations.

However, his vision is incomplete unless he expands his scope of cooperation to Beijing and realigns world’s second largest economy and emerging global technological powerhouse on trade and technology as well as doesn’t shirk Chinese proposal of complete disarmament, prohibition and destruction of fissile materials.

Whatever differences, the two sides carry, have stemmed from Trump’s trade war, sanctions on China’s technology companies and aggressive diplomacy. As Beijing is ready to resume dialogue and cooperation on equal footing, the relationship can still be brought back on track given Washington carts off some tariffs on Chinese goods and eases bans on its tech firms to build a climate of confidence for cooperation.

Trump’s offensives have infected the delicate China-US relationship and driven Beijing to take retaliatory actions to safeguard its national development, trade and technology interests. Biden has signaled to soften the US attitude toward China but there is no clarity how he would reduce existing trade and technology tensions and prevent new frictions from transpiring.

If Biden could come out of Trump’s shell and stop forging alliances against China to retain the US international influence, widen an inclusive cooperation to Beijing, scale back American antagonism and prevent the relationship to reach at the breaking point – not only climate, health, arms and nuclear challenges could be tackled strongly but improved trade and technology ties would also strengthen to the fight against global economic crisis and rising poor headcount.

The European Union disregard for Biden’s request to delay the Beijing-Brussels investment deal until his inauguration set an example that European nations were bashful to be a part of Washington’s “great game” at the cost of their economies, sharply contracted by 6.2% in 2020 over the pandemic.

On the other hand, the plan to rally global governments against China is a relic of the past US administration and has put American international credibility in a prone position. Biden’s promise to lift the country’s reliability including among Washington’s partners and assurance to reverse Trump’s policies is a confession of the US amoral strategy.

While the US seeks China’s cooperation on issues that are in American interests only and China is ready to engage on most of them, the Biden administration should also show some flexibility. Like an arrangement with Europe, Washington can talk to Beijing and agree to at least temporarily suspend tariffs on each other’s goods and set up a propitious stage for painstaking negotiations in future.

The US is the largest economy of the world so a great deal of responsibility to keep temperature low between two superpowers and unite the global community on shared challenges behooves the White House. A comprehensive engagement from Biden with China, toning down differences and focusing on reciprocal cooperation, may blossom forth relatively a supportive China-US relationship that would help to achieve common objectives and confront the global threats at full tilt.