US should not threaten balance in China relations

By Zhong Sheng (People's Daily)

08:31, August 16, 2011

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

Some congressmen of the United States have been quite emotional recently. It seems that the U.S. debt crisis is not enough of an impetus for them to calm down and reflect on the pessimistic future of the U.S. economy, but also they still have a lot of energy to call for selling weapons to Taiwan. 

Apparently, it does not worry these politicians all that selling weapons to Chinese Taiwan will impact China-U.S. relations, and furthermore, it seems their desire to sell arms to Taiwan is meant as a signal that Washington will not show weakness in its foreign policy toward China. 

Currently, a viewpoint that is very popular in the Untied States is that China-U.S. relations are at a balanced state, and neither side wants or dares to break this balance. U.S. scholar Joseph Nye recently explained this viewpoint in his way: If one side relies on the other more, the power will be in the hands of the side that needs the other the least. If both sides rely on each other equally, there will be no power in this kind of relationship. Joseph Nye believes that the balance of China-U.S. relations is like "a balance of terror." 

Some other U.S. scholars further proposed the concept of "financial balance of terror." In their opinion, although China has bought a large amount of U.S. Treasury securities, China does not dare to "attack" the United States by dumping them because China will suffer a great loss caused by the deprecation of the securities.

The phrase "balance of terror" evidently invokes a Cold War mentality. The United States and the Soviet Union maintained a nuclear balance so that if any side had initiated an attack, both sides would surely have been losers. Thus, they never launched any attack against the other side. It is particularly noteworthy that the balance in the China-U.S. ties is totally different from the "balance of terror" during the Cold War. 

The China-U.S. ties, particularly the cooperation in economic and trade fields, have undergone a process of continuous integration and development and have gradually formed an interest structure of "being each other's stakeholder." Maintaining such a balance relies on not only the balance of power but also the good intentions to address issues through cooperation. If Washington really values such a balance, it should cherish the current hard-won situation in bilateral ties and work with China to promote the continuous development of bilateral ties through constructive moves. 
"The two countries will benefit from their peaceful coexistence and lose from conflicts" are the remarks that China has reiterated when dealing with the China-U.S. relations. The remarks show that the Chinese people have embraced the ideas of valuing the big picture and equal consultations and pursuing cooperation and mutual benefits, with open and generous minds. Today, more and more Americans have started delivering the same remarks that, however, appear to turn sour after being reflected on. It could be asserted after also considering the agitation of some politicians in Washington that some American had apparent arrogance when delivering the remarks. 

Like the balance in the law of nature, the balance in state relations is always relative. If the balance is properly handled, the balancing factors will become a solid foundation to promote the relations. If not, the balancing factors will likely become obstacles to progress.

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