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President Joe Biden has signalled a softening of US attitudes toward China, but there is no clarity how he would reduce existing trade and technology tensions and prevent new frictions from transpiring, writes Azhar Azam.
Under former President Donald Trump, the US was quite demanding on cooperation.
He had an obsession of using allies and partners as an instrument to magnify American power, extend influence, shape the international environment to its advantage and identify areas of cooperation with competitors from a position of strength through military means.
His successor Joe Biden covets to lead with diplomacy and encounter rivals also from a position of strength by bolstering alliances and widening the circle of cooperation because US strength is multiplied when it combines efforts to "address common challenges, share costs and widen the circle of cooperation".
He believes by restoring US credibility, he would ensure America, not China, sets the international agenda, allowing the country to prevail in strategic competition with not just Beijing, but any other nation.
Apparently, the two approaches take diverse tracks yet push for one shared thread - the US should unilaterally control the world, American cooperation isn't universal and allies must embrace stated foreign policy goals of the respective administrations.
Geopolitical test
The US relationship with China, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says, is the "biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century".
That's not because a stable and open international system is being challenged by Beijing; it's that Washington's galactic and worldwide supremacy is under threat from Chinese economic, diplomatic, military and technological power.
As one of the key US officials in the Obama administration, the longtime Biden confidante realises that western democratic models cannot be promoted or imposed through costly military interventions or by trying to topple "authoritarian regimes by force". There seems to be a change in the new US government as it is replacing its myopic lens and looking at the world with "fresh eyes".
It augurs well for the planet that sensing the world is at inflection point and no country can alone act against global challenges such as pandemics, climate crisis, cyber threats, international economic disruptions, terrorism and proliferation of nuclear weapons - Biden asserted to welcome Chinese cooperation on issues attached to climate change, global health security, arms control and non-proliferation.
Biden has also committed himself to multilateralism, returned to global institutions, pledged to restore international cooperation and vowed to head off a costly arms race, reduce the role of nuclear weapons and engage China and Russia in meaningful arms control negotiations.
However, his vision is incomplete unless he expands his scope of cooperation to Beijing and realigns world's second largest economy and emerging global technological powerhouse on trade and technology as well as not shirking Chinese proposals of complete disarmament, prohibition and destruction of fissile materials.
Whatever differences the two sides carry, have stemmed from Trump's trade war, sanctions on China's technology companies and aggressive diplomacy. As Beijing is ready to resume dialogue and cooperation on equal footing, the relationship can still be brought back on track given Washington carts off some tariffs on Chinese goods and eases bans on its tech firms to build a climate of confidence for cooperation.
Trump's offensives have infected the delicate China-US relationship and driven Beijing to take retaliatory actions to safeguard its national development, trade and technology interests. Biden has signalled a softening of US attitudes toward China, but there is no clarity how he would reduce existing trade and technology tensions and prevent new frictions from transpiring.
If Biden could come out of Trump's shell and stop forging alliances against China to retain the US international influence, widen an inclusive cooperation to Beijing, scale back American antagonism and prevent the relationship from reaching a breaking point - not only climate, health, arms and nuclear challenges could be tackled strongly, but improved trade and technology ties would also strengthen the fight against global economic crisis and a rising poor headcount.
The European Union's disregard for Biden's request to delay the Beijing-Brussels investment deal until his inauguration set an example that European nations were bashful to be a part of Washington's "great game" at the cost of their economies, which sharply contracted by 6.2% in 2020 over the pandemic.
On the other hand, the plan to rally global governments against China is a relic of the past US administration and has put American international credibility in a delicate position. Biden's promise to lift the country's reliability, including among Washington's partners, and assurance to reverse Trump's policies, is a confession of the US amoral strategy.
Flexibility needed
While the US seeks China's cooperation on issues that are in American interests only and China is ready to engage on most of them, the Biden administration should also show some flexibility. Like an arrangement with Europe, Washington can talk to Beijing and agree to at least temporarily suspend tariffs on each other's goods and set up a propitious stage for painstaking negotiations in future.
The US is the largest economy in the world, so there is a great deal of responsibility to keep temperatures low between two superpowers and unite the global community on shared challenges.
A comprehensive engagement from Biden with China, toning down differences and focusing on reciprocal cooperation, may blossom forth a relatively supportive China-US relationship that would help to achieve common objectives and confront the global threats at full tilt.
- Azhar Azam writes on economy, geopolitical issues and regional conflicts and is an opinion contributor to CGTN, News24, The Mail & Guardian, New Straits Times and The Express Tribune (partner of The International New York Times).
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