Photo: IC

With the end of the race for the presidency of the United States, China-US relations find themselves at a new starting point. Looking at recent years, the United States’ China policy has focused on “strategic competition”, and the United States has exerted multi-dimensional pressure on China in areas such as economy, technology and security. However, this competition-oriented policy has not helped the United States achieve its goals. Instead, it has worsened relations between the two countries and even triggered turbulence in the global supply chain. It is now hoped that the new US government can examine the shortcomings of the current China policy and rethink how to build a stable and win-win relationship with China, so as to help create a lasting China-US relationship.

Globalization has made Chinese and American economies and industrial chains closely linked. Complete “decoupling” is not only unrealistic, but it will also have a negative impact on American businesses and consumers. In fact, high inflation in recent years has put pressure on the U.S. economy, and the tariff war has failed to bring back manufacturing. Instead, it has led to increased costs for American businesses. China is not only an important manufacturing base in the world, but also an important market for American capital and technology. Blindly weakening economic ties between the two countries is tantamount to harming the United States’ own interests.

In the field of science and technology, the US policy towards China is wrong. Joe Biden’s administration has further strengthened its technological blockade against China, including imposing restrictions on key technologies such as semiconductors, in order to maintain US advantages. However, this “small yard, high fence” strategy is not only detrimental to the development of global technology, but also may lead to the isolation of the United States in the global innovation network. China has increased its efforts in independent innovation in recent years in a bid to reduce its dependence on foreign countries.

In short, the tension in China-US relations has deep-rooted structural reasons, but there are many misjudgments in the current US policy towards China. In order to achieve peace and stability, the new US government must re-examine its policy towards China and return to rationality. On economic, technological, geopolitical and other levels, the United States should engage with China more cooperatively and jointly explore ways to achieve win-win cooperation.

In economic matters, the United States should abandon its logic of “decoupling”. It should abandon its overly extreme tariff war strategy, reduce the tariffs it imposes on China, and negotiate with China to redefine trade rules based on mutual benefit. Such adjustments will help reduce inflationary pressures in the United States, stabilize market expectations, provide more choices for American consumers, and prevent policy mistakes from continuing to harm the economy.

In terms of science and technology, the United States should move from a confrontational model based on blockade to a win-win model that promotes active cooperation and healthy competition. The US technological blockade has not stopped China’s technological progress, on the contrary, it has inspired China to increase its independent innovation in key technological areas such as semiconductors. Rather than trying to contain China, it is better for the United States to improve its technological levels together through open competition. The United States should consider strengthening science and technology exchanges and academic cooperation between the two countries, establishing a security framework for science and technology, as well as exploring new models of fair and mutually beneficial science and technology cooperation. with China.

In international affairs, including climate change, public health and the fight against international terrorism, China and the United States have great potential for cooperation. The Biden administration has made some progress in addressing climate issues. If the new administration can further promote climate cooperation between China and the United States, it will have a considerable positive impact on reducing global emissions. At the same time, global health security is also an area where the two countries can cooperate. Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic have proven that public health safety has no national boundaries. Cooperation in pandemic prevention and control, as well as in building health infrastructure, will benefit not only the two countries, but also global public health services.

For the new US government, dealing with China should not be a zero-sum game of “life and death”. It should focus on finding a balance point that is compatible with everyone’s interests through dialogue and cooperation. Competition can exist, but it should not be a reason for confrontation; differences may exist, but they should not hinder the cooperation process.

The author is a fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University and a visiting scholar at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School. [email protected]