Sino-US relations have always attracted the attention of the world, and since the Obama administration came to power in the context of the "domestic and foreign difficulties" of the United States, the relationship between the two countries has become more eye-catching.
After Barack Obama left the US presidency in 2017, the Trump administration took power in the United States, and Sino-US relations were repeatedly strained, and some people could not help but wonder whether Sino-US relations would ease if Obama had not left office.
But in Obama's memoir, "The Promised Land," he said that the United States had the opportunity to restrict China, but had to give up for a variety of reasons. What does Obama mean by this opportunity?
China adheres to peaceful development
Since China's reform and opening up for decades, China has made great progress and rapid development. On December 10, 2003, China put forward for the first time the development strategy of "peaceful rise", saying that it would put the foundation of sustainable development on its own strength, and would adhere to self-reliance and hard work.
However, because the word "rise" mostly contains the meaning of military conquest and provocation in foreign languages, in 2004, the more low-key term "peaceful development" replaced "peaceful rise" and was recognized by many countries.
Since the reform and opening up, China has grown into a force that cannot be ignored to promote the development of the world economy. After the end of the Cold War, multilateralization and globalization became an irreversible development trend, and China is an important socialist developing country, which has attracted much attention from the international community.
China has always upheld international morality and justice, and declared to the world that "peaceful development" is to safeguard the world and contribute to a national environment of equality and mutual benefit. But China's rapid development has led to "psychological anxiety/fear" in many countries.
An associate professor at Japan's Defense University first proposed the "China threat theory" in Japan's monthly magazine "Zhujun", saying that China should be regarded as a potential threat. Subsequently, under the development of American researchers, the "China threat theory" gradually became a theory they highly advocated.
In their eyes, China's mysterious and backward appearance has not changed, and the lack of understanding of the real China has made China's development a natural unknown. China's growing economy and growing military power have led the United States to position China as the country that will pose the greatest threat to it.
However, as early as 9 April 1999, Premier Zhu Rongji proposed that China and the United States should become partners and that the "theory of the China threat" should be changed to the "theory of China opportunity." China's economic development has broad prospects, and US enterprises should seize the opportunity of economic and trade cooperation with China.
This speech made the United States more clearly understand that China's peaceful development will bring broader markets and opportunities to the United States, that the United States urgently needs to solve its "internal and external difficulties" and that China strives for development, and that the active cooperative partners of China and the United States have become the consensus of the two countries.
United States
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States on January 1, 1979, the relations between the two countries have been continuously enriched and developed. After Obama took office in 2009, he, as the first mulatto president of the United States, ended the previous "New America model" by proposing a "New Deal".
In terms of China policy, the United States continues to maintain good interaction and actively communicate with China, but it still uses "Xinjiang independence" and "Tibet independence" to classify China and intervene horizontally on the Taiwan issue.
However, the trend of friendly exchanges between China and the United States is good, and the two sides have paid friendly visits many times to expand coordination and cooperation in various bilateral fields and major international and regional issues, and have exchanged in-depth and extensive views.
On Tibet, the Obama administration has been cautious. During his two visits, in February 2010 and July 2011, Obama chose the little-known White House Presidential Map Room as a meeting point. This sends a signal to China that the United States does not want to worsen Sino-American relations and wants to continue to cooperate with China.
Obama, who came to power in the context of the economic crisis in 2008, was full of responsibilities at a time of "internal and external difficulties" in the United States. After a once-in-a-century financial crisis that affected the world, the US economy suffered a heavy blow and showed a trend of accumulation; Coupled with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq under the Bush administration, the United States is exhausted.
At that time, the strong complementarity between the Chinese and American economies made Obama not give up his friendship with China in any case to solve the current situation of "domestic and foreign difficulties" in the United States.
But national interests have always been the fundamental basis for the state's foreign policy, just as "there are no eternal friends and enemies, only eternal interests." In the Obama administration's view, China is one of America's key partners in its quest for development and a key target of checks and balances.
While the situation of the international financial crisis has eased, Obama was re-elected in 2012, and Sino-US relations have repeatedly developed into a negative situation. US arms sales to Taiwan, Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands, and the shelling of Yanping Island have constantly impacted the stable development of Sino-US relations.
It is conceivable that if the United States had not been in a situation of "internal and external difficulties" at that time, it would have been impossible for the United States to restrict its suppression and sanctions against China.
When China has not yet developed, I don't know whether it can withstand the pressure and highlight the encirclement, and the world may be a different situation.
Where is the direction of Sino-US relations
Trump and Biden have continued the China containment policy for two consecutive US administrations, and the United States has not changed the essence of putting its national interests first, using the think tank that plays an important role in the US decision-making system to solve practical problems and formulate China policy.
U.S. think tanks are seriously concerned about the ideological conflict between China and the United States, and they worry that China will develop into a "challenger" and attack the United States' world hegemony.
From the beginning of his presidency, Obama became acutely aware that China was neither a friend nor an enemy, but a competitor.
He believes that China's peaceful rise is an inevitable trend in world history, and strong suppression is no longer realistic. But Obama's philosophy alone ultimately does not affect the essence of America as a whole.
Although China has always held high the banner of peacekeeping, it has always been regarded as a potential threat by some countries. After the new crown epidemic, the relationship between China and the United States has repeatedly fallen into a bad situation, and conflicts have continued, and the trade war launched by the Trump administration has brought deep disasters to the two countries.
In order to prove its world hegemony, the United States intervened and instigated the Russian-Ukrainian war that has not ended to this day, bringing pain and blood and tears to countless people. Under the trend of globalization, China and the United States should build a platform for friendly exchanges to deepen mutual trust and peaceful development.
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