Dialogue with A.N.M. Muniruzzaman

• Source: Global Times
• [11:32 November 13 2009]
• Comments

Global Times: The overall gap between China and the US is getting smaller…will the two countries have more conflicts than cooperation?

Muniruzzaman: When power rises, at any time of the history, like China is rising now, there are potential tensions, if not conflicts. I will not go to the extent of the conflicts, but I’ll consider that whenever powers rise, and the existing powers exist, there bounds to be areas of tension, because of there are areas of competitiveness. So what we normally see in such a relationship is a tendency to hedge and engage. So there is not a continuous period of hedging, neither there is a continuous period of engaging. But there is a mix of hedging and engaging – that is what the US so far has followed with China. But we see an increasing positive trend in the US’ policy in engaging China more than hedging. Therefore, I would consider it would be in the interest of both the US and China, as well as regional and global stability. In terms of strategic stability and financial stability, we would like to see more engagement than anything else.