The U.S. and
China are heading toward a more strained relationship with increased mutual
distrust, a new study by David Shambaugh, the director of the China Policy
Program at George Washington University has shown.
This will be the
case no matter who wins the U.S. presidential election and who fills the new
Chinese Politburo next week, Shambaugh said.
“The competitive
elements in the relationship are growing and becoming primary, while the
cooperative ones are secondary and declining,” he added.
A senior U.S.
congressional staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that such a
development could impact Taiwan by causing Beijing to further resent the
Washington-Taipei relationship and putting new strains on arms sales, trade and
diplomatic policies.
At the same
time, Elizabeth Economy, the director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign
Relations, said that U.S.-China relations would no longer be focused exclusively
on trade, Taiwan and human rights.
“The next [U.S.]
president will have to work with China on virtually every global challenge,” she
said. “China’s leaders no longer simply want to export their goods and services,
they want to export their culture, their values and
ideals.”
According to
Shambaugh’s gloomy forecast, meetings between Washington and Beijing
representatives are becoming more pro forma and “increasingly
acrimonious.”
He said that
beneath the surface of these official exchanges, mutual distrust is pervasive,
with few officials on either side on a strong mission to cooperate with the
other. Rows are breaking out over trade and investment conditions, technology,
espionage and cyberattacks, as well as about global challenges like climate
change, Syria and military postures in the Asia-Pacific
region.
“As China’s
global footprint has emerged onto every continent, it is increasingly bumping up
against longstanding American interests - thus adding a global dimension the
relationship has never had,” Shambaugh said. Taipei Times
The Obama
administration has been ramping up the pressure on China with an increasingly
antagonistic foreign policy. The so-called ‘Asia pivot’ is an aggressive policy
that involves surging American military presence throughout the region - in the
Philippines, Japan, Australia, Guam, South Korea, Singapore, etc. - in an
unprovoked scheme to contain rising Chinese economic and military influence.
WSJ China’s growing
economic and military might is leading to a greater assertiveness in pressing
its claims in the South China Sea. The United States is building closer economic
and military alliances with Vietnam and other nations in the region as part of a
‘‘pivot’’ away from the Middle East to Asia. Boston.com The U.S. is
planning a major expansion of missile defenses in Asia, a move American
officials say is designed to contain threats from North Korea, but one that
could also be used to counter China's military. WSJ The Pentagon is
particularly concerned about the growing power of China. China has been
developing advanced ballistic missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles that
could target U.S. naval forces in the region. AP According to a
study by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, U.S. experts
"may have failed to fully appreciate the extent to which the Chinese leadership
views the United States as a fundamental threat to China's security." Raw
Story
AHT/ARA
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