Photo: IC

After the end of the Cold War, Washington's policy toward Beijing had been to engage and cooperate with China, while simultaneously restraining and guarding against it. Cooperation could be observed within economic and trade ties along with people-to-people exchanges. When international security and human rights were involved, vigilance and restraint played a prominent part. However, there was a relative balance between cooperation and restraint.

However, since 2017, significant changes have taken place in US policy toward China, reflected in the National Security Strategy Report released in 2018 and remarks made by government officials and Congress members. China has been defined as a strategic competitor, apparently necessitating the need for mobilizing the entire US government to engage in a comprehensive and long-term strategic confrontation with Beijing. Washington exaggerates China's so-called security threats and keeps condemning its internal and external policies. 

The false alarm raised over China has translated into bellicose moves - the trade war, persecuting China's high-tech companies such as Huawei, restricting educational, technological and cultural communications between the two sides, increasing "freedom of navigation" operations in the South China Sea, intensifying high-level exchanges with Taiwan and interfering in China's internal affairs, etc.

Such actions have been unprecedented since the thaw in relations in the early 1970s. It marks a qualitative change in US policy toward China and Beijing mustn't have any illusions about it. 

The change can be explained in four perspectives. 

First, the jousting over national status and power. Many observers believe the rise of China's strength and status is posing a huge challenge to US hegemony. As long as China is rising, Washington will spare no effort to strangle Beijing irrespective of the political system it has or what it does.

Second, the game between different political systems and rules. Quite a few analysts have observed that China's domestic political trends in recent years have disappointed US policymakers and observers. The socialist market economy, which Beijing adheres to, is considered "state capitalism" by Washington and labeled incompatible with free market rules. 

Nowadays, China's political system and development path have become increasingly attractive to more and more developing countries thanks to programs including the Belt and Road Initiative. It is considered to be a challenge to Western ideology and the democratic model. 

Third, the fight over interests, especially in the economic sphere. Some Americans feel that the US is at a disadvantage in doing business with China due to the increasing trade deficit and uneven market access. 

Fourth, US domestic political struggle. Over the years, the gap between rich and poor in the US is widening, while ethnic and racial issues become more acute. Populism within both left- and right-wing political forces is rising, which has led to political polarization. Therefore, some US politicians are trying to distract public attention by finding a scapegoat outside. 

Only by looking at the four perspectives together can one have a comprehensive understanding of the US China policy, which cannot be rolled back to the past, when cooperation and competition co-existed.

But it takes two to tango. China is playing an increasingly crucial role in ties with the US. That being said, a qualitative change in the US China policy doesn't mean that the bilateral ties will undergo similar changes. 

The leading positive factor in relations is China's consistent US policy. Strategically confronting the US is not in line with China's long-term national interests. If Beijing gets involved in a war of words or tries to seek revenge on Washington, it would play into the hands of those Americans who want to do harm to China. 

China should not do what the US wants. If some Americans want to see a decoupling of US and China's economic and technology spheres, Beijing should stick to promoting multilateral collaboration with countries around the globe, including the US, in the fields of economy and technology. If the US government wants to crack down on Huawei, the company should try to hold on to cooperation with its American partners, continue hiring scientists from all countries including the US, rather than proposing a blocking of Apple in China. 

If the US clamps down on educational and people-to-people exchanges, China should step up communications with all walks of life in the US. If Washington hypes up the so-called China threat all over the world, China should intensify its engagement internationally. 

Leaders and persons with a broad vision in many countries have seen what a China-US strategic confrontation can wreak on the world and they keep promoting better ties with Beijing. This is another positive factor. For instance, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has warned many times that a tariff dispute between the world's two largest economies will hit global economic recovery.

Recent public opinion in the US hasn't been favorable to China. But the foundation of China-US ties, which has been formed over the past 40 years, won't collapse easily. There are still many local governments and enterprises in the US that are quite eager to expand trade ties with China. And there is no lack of far-sighted strategists, diplomats and pragmatic experts on the world's second largest economy who are waiting for the right time to speak out. 

Crisis sometimes comes with a silver lining. Once the loss caused by mutual tariff hikes is apparent, US firms will recalculate and find out it would hurt their interests to disrupt the industrial chain and abandon the Chinese market. After that, they might become the force to constrain their government's faulty policies. 

In the foreseeable future, the shifts in US policy toward China will hardly be reversed. It makes people see the nature of their ties against the complicated backdrop. As the US escalates bilateral tensions, a misstep can possibly trigger local conflicts, which China must take guard against. 

On the other hand, China can try to alleviate the piling pressure through summit diplomacy, high-level consultations and communication in different areas to make use of saner voices in the US who understand the bilateral relationship better, and help maintain ties which revolve around competition but not strategic showdown. 

What is the fundamental guarantee for stabilizing China-US relations and easing trade conflicts? I believe it should be fully promoting domestic reform and opening-up, achieving quality development of the Chinese economy and helping realize the people's pursuit for a prosperous life. 

The author is president of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University. The article is an excerpt of his article published in Global Times Chinese edition. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn