CHINA US Focus - Perspectives shaping the world's most important bilateral relationship

Despite three decades worth of effort in political, economic, social, cultural, and even military exchanges, the strategic mutual trust between China and the United States has not increased as significantly as expected. On the contrary, the past several years have witnessed an increase of “strategic deficit.” An outdated, arrogant, and narrow-minded mentality characterized by “zero-sum” and “Cold War” still haunts their bilateral relations.

  Having articulated in 1946-1947 America’s strategy to contain Soviet expansion, George F. Kennan in the mid-1950s warned Washington not to engage in a self-fulfilling prophecy when dealing with Stalin’s successors. Make no mistake, he warned, if Washington treats the Kremlin’s new leaders as if they are inexorably committed aggressive policies, they will have no [...]

A recent study co-authored by Dr. Kenneth Lieberthal and Dr.Wang Jisi has aroused a great deal of interest among Chinese and American officials and policy analysts who are concerned about the relationship. One frequently asked question is: given the degree of the mutual distrust and the difficulty in reducing it, are the two countries heading for a long-term strategic rivalry and confrontation?

In its 2011 report titled Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China’ released on August 24, the US Department of Defense expressed its worries about China’s employment of its modernized army to gain ground on the diplomatic front or facilitate settlement of disputes.

The Pentagon’s report on the Chinese military makes clear that China’s air force and defense aerospace sector still lags considerably behind that of the United States.

This month marks the 40th anniversary of Henry Kissinger’s secret trip to Beijing, which launched the process of mending a 20-year breach in diplomatic relations between the United States and China. That trip, and President Richard Nixon’s subsequent visit, represented a major Cold War realignment. The US and China put aside their intense hostility in [...]