U.S.-China Confrontation Runs Counter to Both Countries’ Interests

February 2017 marks the 45th anniversary of the first Sino-U.S. joint communiqué. Popularly known as the Shanghai Communiqué, it formed the foundation of the relations today between the two countries. The recent U.S. presidential campaign and its aftermath, featuring “China bashing” and even attempts to undermine these long established relations, make essential a clear analysis of why stable, friendly relations between China and the U.S. are in the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples.

In particular, it must be understood that the 2016 U.S. presidential election culminated in the greatest destabilization of U.S. politics since the Great Depression. Such instability and dissatisfaction are undoubtedly rooted in an economic and social situation where U.S. household incomes are lower now than 15 years ago and a rise in U.S. economic inequality that has been afoot for three or more decades.

Chinese and U.S. officers compare notes during a three-day joint humanitarian relief drill held in Kunming, Yunnan Province in November 2016.

Yet both U.S. presidential candidates attempted during the campaign to divert the U.S. voting public’s attention from these real problems in various ways, one of them “China bashing.” Trump made false claims that China gains an unreasonably competitive edge through an artificially low exchange rate – an argument that even the U.S. Treasury has abandoned.

In fact, “China bashing” goes against the interests of both China and the people of the United States themselves. As the world’s most important bilateral relationship, the dynamics between China and the U.S. affect the global situation as a whole.