Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds a small-range talks with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, Sept. 25, 2015. Xi arrived in Washington, the second stop of his state visit to the United States, on Thursday after a busy two-and-a-half-day stay in Seattle. [Photo: Xinhua/Lan Hongguang]
By Tao Wenzhao
President Xi Jin-ping's state visit to the United States is a complete success. The visit has achieved abundant products about security, economic , people-to-people exchanges and other issues, which will have a profound influence not only on the bilateral relations, but on the region and the world situation as well. The most important outcome is that the visit once more confirmed the correct direction of China –US relations, that is, to build a new type of major country relationship, and ensure that the bilateral relations will continue to move forward on the stable and healthy track.
Since the Sunnylands meeting by the two state leaders in 2013 progresses have been made in various fields in building a new type of major country relationship . President Obama's state visit to China last November was a big success, too. However, there are also some developments that are not conducive to improvement of the bilateral relations. The US- Japan alliance has been adjusted again and new defensive guidelines were promulgated, which caused serious concern in China. The high level US officials were so vocal at various international occasions, speaking out against China's positions on South China Sea. Cyber security has become another outstanding issue between the two countries. Because of these and other problems some scholars in the United States argue that the engagement policy towards China since President Nixon has failed, that US should revise its China policy, weakening cooperation with China, while strengthening checking and balancing China. Some American scholars criticize China's initiative of " Belt and Road", AIIB and BRICK's Bank as "to create an alternative to existing international regime". Some Republican hopefuls already started " China Bashing". Some scholars criticize the tendency, saying that to fundamentally change US policy towards China means to seek enemy for the United States. But the reasonable voice is relatively week.
President Xi's visit has sent very positive message about the right direction for the bilateral relations. The both sides have made strategic reassurance. US National Security Advisor Susan Rice in her remarks at the George Washington University said clearly that the Obama administration rejects the lazy rhetoric that conflict between the US and China is inevitable, that the relationship between the two countries is not a zero -sum game. The United States welcomes a rising China that is peaceful, stable, prosperous, and a responsible player in global affairs. President Obama repeated that in his welcome speech at the White House, too. President Xi elaborated China's relationship with existing international system. He emphasized that China is a participant in, builder of and contributor to the existing system. As China's economy grows, China wants to provide more common goods to the international society. And the existing system also has to be improved with time passes. But China will not overthrow the system and start a new one from beginning. China will stick to the peaceful development path. As some scholars maintain that the two countries are about to fall into the "Thucydides's trap ", Xi said there is no such a trap at all. But if one country makes wrong strategic calculation, it will create for itself such a trap. We must avoid that. President Obama also pointed out that he does not believe in such a trap. The two leaders have a frank and in depth exchanges of their views on extensive and important issues of their concern. So the state visit certainly did a lot to enhancing the mutual trust and reducing the misgivings.
The long list of extensive consensus and cooperative programs shows that the two countries have chosen a right way for the future. And even with the most sensitive issue such as cyber security the two countries have reached consensus to make concerted efforts to deal with it, which gives a hope that there is opportunity to turn this area of friction into one of cooperation. Xi also addressed some differences between the two countries. With regard to human rights, he said that realizing the Chinese Dream is in essence a process that promotes social justice and advances human rights. Even with regard to the South China Sea issue which raised a lot of noises in the United States, President Xi said that there are also some common grounds between the two countries, and he made some elaboration. It means that the two countries are constructively managing their differences.
President Xi has made a point that win-win cooperation is the only choice for China-US relations. That is the truth drawn from the history of the bilateral relations and present world situation. President Xi's state visit to the United States has poured new dynamics to China-US relations and made us more confident that the bilateral relations will have a bright future.
(The author is Senior Research Professor，Institute of American Studies, CASS)
