Wednesday, May 18, 2011

China's relationship with USA

China Daily


The content I found was an article written and published on a website called ‘China Daily’, whose tag-line, “connecting China, connecting the world” already shows the influence China undoubtedly has across the globe. However, the home page of the website is in English, and the reader has the option to translate it into Chinese, French, into the US edition or the European version. The fact that they have a US edition shows the powerful relationship between the two countries and shows the dominance America has. It is not as if there is a ‘China Daily Russia’ for them to compete with.

The article, written by researchers at the School of International Studies of the Renmin University of China, explains the turbulent relationship between the United States and China, and, written in March 2010, looks at what might be coming next for the two countries.

“All hope is not lost for US and emboldened China to make amends”
The article tends to be quite negative throughout, with a positive note at the end, but all the same a very realistic approach to the relationship. Explaining that since Obama’s election and during his presidency, the relations have been likened to a “roller-coaster ride” , the tensions had often been “masked by a collective effort to stop the economy’s hemorrhaging”. So it seems one country without the other would collapse, and so the article suggests they must work together to keep one another afloat. However, since China has gained some economic power back and America has evidently lost some of it’s economic status, any conflict has been apparent.

The main problems highlighted in the article are the stark differences between the two countries; US expected China to be supportive on it’s issues, and China hoped that the US would respect China’s values and interests and treat the nation fairly. “Each nation has been unable to step away from it’s own interests and viewpoints”, so in a sense they both seem quite selfish from the article. China will not surpass it’s own values and principles to blindly follow America and America will not do the same for China – it seems like a game of tug-of-war with the two nations.

According to the article, there are three main “deep-rooted” feelings that the US has towards China –
1)   Disappointment – the fact China has not become westernized despite economic development and has generally not been cooperative with the US on a number of issues.
2)   China’s defiance – It’s growing confidence internationally, the US is used to China being a silent country but this is changing.
3)   US draining superiority – the rise of China coincided with America’s declining financial status in the world.


The fact that America is so sensitive towards China’s growth simply emanates fear - the fear that China will be the next superpower and America will pale in insignificance. However despite the general slant of this article, it ends on a  positive note that not all is lost and the relationship between the two nations will improve over time.

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