China US Photo:GT

 
The relationship between China and the United States seems to be very complex and challenging, but in essence it is an issue of perception. And the only way out is to make the right strategic choice.

Should a stable, open and strong China be viewed as an opportunity or a challenge for the United States and the rest of the world? This is an issue of perception.

The core problem is that the United States has followed the outdated geopolitical theory, the cold-war mentality where one's gain is other's loss, and the zero-sum game in dealing with China-U.S. relations and international relations in general. It has regarded China as its major strategic competitor instead of strategic cooperation partner, which has created a lot of troubles and conflicts to China and itself, and carried out aggressive suppression as well as strategic containment against China. But what are the results of such a policy?

Under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has made two miracles over the past 40 plus years, namely, sustained rapid economic growth and social stability, and the achievement of poverty alleviation on schedule. One fifth of the world's population has been lifted out of absolute poverty, with no one left behind. In 2020, China was the first to bring the pandemic under control, and its GDP grew by 2.3 percent and the volume of international trade by 1.9 percent.

Since 2008, China has contributed about 30 percent to the global economic growth every year, more than the combined figure of all the developed countries, including the United States, Europe and Japan. Without China's reform and opening up and rapid development, many factories of the developed countries would have been closed and more people would have lost their jobs.

Some people worry that a strong China will seek hegemony. This argument has no basis in history or in reality. China used to be the most powerful country in the world. In 1820, China accounted for nearly one third of the world's economy. More than 600 years ago, China sent its  navigator Zheng He on seven voyages and visited 37 countries and regions in Asia and Africa. Regrettably, however, only in more than 100 years after 1840, China fell behind and became a victim of foreign aggression, leaving untold sufferings to its people. Therefore, to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and deliver a better life to all the Chinese people have thus become the inevitable trend of Chinese history, the choice of the Chinese people and the aspiration and mission of the CPC. No one can change or stop it.

The 5000-year Chinese civilization has made remarkable contribution to the progress of mankind. The essence of the Chinese civilization is treasuring peace and caring for others. Over the past four decades and more, China has achieved rapid development. The key to its success is that China has followed a path of peaceful development, instead of foreign aggression or colonial plunder. China has neither the history of colonization or plunder, nor the DNA of hegemony.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the United States has been pursuing color revolution and containment vis a vis China with endless strategies and means. It has never ceased, yet has never succeeded in its attempts. In the past two years, the Trump administration has breached the bottom line of morality and played with no rules, exerted extreme pressure on China, started a trade war, and tried to "decouple" bilateral science, technology, finance and people-to-people exchanges. This has only resulted in a situation where ASEAN and the European Union have replaced the United States to become China's largest and second largest trading partners respectively.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did his utmost to force his so-called Western Allies to contain China. But what we have seen is that 140 countries and more than 30 international organizations have signed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation documents with China. Not long ago, 15 Asian countries signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the China-EU Investment Agreement negotiation has been concluded. And a lot of American key allies got engaged in those partnership. It is only a pity that the United States did not participate. Last year, the FDI in China reached $163 billion, ranking the first in the world, giving a vote of confidence in China's development prospects. British investment in China increased by more than 30 percent year on year. 

This is the response from countries around the world to the U.S. attempt to contain China. The governing authorities of all countries understand that politics and economy are always two sides of the same coin. Only by realizing economic development can people's livelihood be improved, and consequently, can the authorities win votes and stay in power.

Therefore, the difficulty and dilemma in China-U.S. relations are attributable to the wrong perception. It is rooted in the outdated international relations theory that has failed to keep pace with the times. And to break the deadlock and get out of the dilemma, it is imperative for the United Stats to make the right strategic choice and meet each other halfway.

Based on a simple but great belief of President Nixon that "there is no reason for China and the United States to be enemies", in 1972, leaders of our two countries started the process of normalizing China-U.S. relations with the handshake across the Pacific Ocean, which later brought enormous benefits to the peoples of both countries and the world at large. Bilateral trade volume has increased by over 250 times since the early days of diplomatic ties. The annual output of U.S. enterprises in China has exceeded $600 billion. China-U.S. economic and trade ties have supported 2.6 million American jobs.

President Xi Jinping has underlined China's perception and strategic choice of China-U.S. relations on many occasions, that is, there are a thousand reasons to make the China-U.S. relationship a success, and not a single reason to break it. Win-win cooperation is the best choice for both sides. China is ready to work with the United States to develop a new type of major country relations featuring no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

What is the future of China-U.S. relations? Now the United States has two strategic choices. One is to continue down the old path of zero-sum game where one's gain is the other's loss. Or it can choose to follow a new path of win-win cooperation for common development. The result will be completely different. The old path will lead to endless conflicts and hurt both sides; while the new path will lead to win-win cooperation for common development. I believe that the far-sighted American people from all walks of life will change their perception on China and make the right strategic choice.

(The author is President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries)