Dialogue with John Ravenhill

• Source: Global Times
• [11:02 November 13 2009]
• Comments

Professor John Ravenhill, Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University

Global Times: Barack Obama is the first US president to visit China in the first year of his term. High-level officials from both sides have interacted frequently in this year. Do you think it means that the US’ policy on China has changed? Is it Obama’s expedient measures due to the financial crisis?

Ravenhill: I think it’s another very important sign that Washington is keen on improving its relations with the region, and we saw this with Hillary Clinton’s visit to ASEAN. These are all very positive signs of Washington’s engagement with the region. Another thing is that he’s not coming because it’s a particularly burning issue in the China-US relationship. He’s not coming to fix the relationship, because the relationship is pretty good.