Recently the official Beijing newspaper Zhenmin Zhibao reported that there was an opportunity to take Chinese-US relations to a new orbit. It looks like China intends to ‘reset’ the dialogue with Washington. But first of all, Beijing, with its Oriental subtlety, expressed concern over the growing US activity in the Asian-Pacific Region (APR).
Indeed, over the last few days a large number of the Chinese media laid emphasis on relations between China and the US. Zhenmin Zhibao gingerly warns that healthy competition and mutually beneficial cooperation are the only reasonable ways to avoid struggle for leadership in the APR between China and the US. According to the Hong Kong press, in 2010 the US announced a strategy of returning to Asia and now is systematically stepping up efforts to preserve such a balance of forces in the APR that would not interfere with US leadership there.
All aspects of the US foreign policy in Asia show that Washington sees China as number one rival, chairman of the board of the Russian-Chinese Trade and Economic Cooperation Centre Sergei Sanakoyev says.
"The US efforts are aimed at weakening its rival and gaining more weight in that region than the growing China. This is proved by the facts who the US supports and how it responds to many issues related to Taiwan, the territorial dispute over islands between China and Japan, various problems of the Chinese domestic policy, for example in Tibet, etc. In this respect all the US’ steps are aimed against China.”
At the same time, neither China nor the US could radically oppose each other due to the growing interdependence of their economies which in unfavourable circumstances could bring serious problems to both countries.
However, in the context of this economic interdependence we can observe the growing struggle for markets, as well as energy and natural resources. For example, China outstripped the US in export volumes already in 2007 and, according to some estimations, caught up with it in the volume of foreign trade in 2012. The US feels sore at losing world leadership in foreign trade.
In addition to politics and economics, Chinese-US rivalry gradually spreads into the military field as well. At present the US is not so much concerned about the Chinese current military and industrial potential as about its development trends, General Director of the Russian Council for International Affairs Andrei Kortuniv said in his interview with The Voice of Russia.
"Americans have to severely cut down their military expenditure at present due to the budget deficit and pending default. In China the military expenditure is growing fast. The army is being overhauled and a new modern navy is being built. This cannot fail to worry Washington. I don’t believe that there is a big chance of a military conflict between China and the US but still such a course of events should not be ruled out.”
However, China’s geostrategic plans do not even contain hints at planning an armed expansion anywhere, Sergei Sanakoyev stresses. While the US wages wars all over the world China reaches its aims with the help of economic levers, such as sending its people all over the world to settle down and develop business there.
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