‘Mutual Respect,’ ‘Common Prosperity’
"Mutual respect."
That should be the basis of the bilateral relationship between the US and China, Xi Jinping told Antony Blinken on Monday in Beijing.
Blinken's trip was delayed by several months. "When conditions permit, I plan to go to China," he said in February, canceling his original plans after Joe Biden dispatched an F-22 to destroy a Chinese surveillance device caught drifting over the contiguous US. The reconnaissance balloon gave a new generation of Americans a taste of the Cold War
Early in my adult life, I learned that there is a monetary value to every relationship (not what you are thinking!).
USA imports from China are approximately $537B. USA exports to China are about $157B.
Symbiotic.
My guess is that within a tight range, won’t move much.
🙂
IDK. Xi is fairly obsessed with Taiwan and avenging the “century of humiliation”. I get the feeling that you have hawks and doves in China (a difference with Russia) but even then it seems mostly about methods/urgency.
None of them seem willing to admit Taiwan is independent.
I’d propose a delegation of colonial powers (including Russia, Japan and the US) goes to Beijing, fall on their knees and apologize for the evils of imperial power in the 19C if it could help Chinese leaders get over it.
b/c, fundamentally, it’s a truism that China, the US (and the world) stand to benefit far more from continued peace and trade than any war, however limited or constrained. The only one who would suffer in that scenario are the Chinese and Tibetans themselves.
If you believe what our government experts recently concluded from a high-tech simulation of various scenarios involving any Chinese attempt to takeover Taiwan by force with full on US involvement is that we will probably lose and China will emerge mostly a loser as well (reported over the weekend). Meanwhile, I have heard tiny little voices speaking quietly from the semi-darkness that seem to imply there may be a possibility of a bloodless assimilation. That would leave everyone some time and a less costly base for future relations. We have problems, China has problems, none of which could not be solved by armed conflict. We failed to win against China in Vietnam and Korea as well, both conflicts costing many American lives in what a best can be called stalemates.
My pre-retirement employer has been operating two AACSB accredited MBA programs in China without interference for over two decades. These programs, one in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong, provide half our annual graduates. Our nation is 250 years old. Theirs has been around for 5000. Hard not to be a bit of a fan of that longevity. I once read what purported to be an account of the final meeting between the CEO of Loctite and a Chinese trade rep who were signing a deal to make SuperGlue in China. When they were done, the CEO reportedly said, “Well, I’ve got to run; time is money.” The trade rep reportedly responded, “No, sir, time is infinite.”
Good story, Mr. Lucky. Many thanks.
I may be kidding myself, but I believe China will lose some US manufacturing work over time. They may also lose some manufacturing work for European customers. It will make some difference to the CCP, but they won’t admit it’s a problem. And I reckon China can still sustain substantial manufacturing, but just a bit less robust.
In the meantime the US is trying to quickly scale up the presence of the US navy in East Asia. The jury remains out on how this plays out. Xi is overly anxious to get Taiwan. But getting his hands on TSMC chip products makes Xi’ even more anxious.
In Asia Xi holds a better hand than the US, which can put up a great fight and hurt China’s forces. But if TSMC doesn’t want to become a tool of the CCP, they ought to get out of Dodge City in the middle of the night.