Forging a peaceful, productive Sino-U.S. relationship could be the foremost task in the first half of the 21st century because any future attempt to stabilize the world must include both China and the U.S., former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker said Thursday.
Sino-U.S. ties are vital because both countries and the world are now facing unprecedented challenges and because of the roles the two nations play, Baker said on the eve of a conference to mark the 30th anniversary of the normalization of China-U.S. diplomatic relations.
The former secretary of state said a vast range exists for Sino-U.S. cooperation across a spectrum of important international issues such as the Middle East and arms control. That's as long as both sides are wise enough to identify areas where their interests converge, he said
As an example, Baker said, global climate change is another area that needs the join efforts of China and the U.S. "Any effort to address global climate change will fail if it does not include participation by China and the United States," Baker said.
There is significant room for collaboration between China and the U.S. in developing and deploying cleaner coal technologies, Baker said.
Another area rich with possible cooperation is energy security, Baker said. He noted that the recent roller-coaster ride in the oil markets, which saw a five-fold price increase before a collapse last year, has demonstrated the cost of volatility in terms of economic growth.
"Beijing and Washington need to work with other importing countries to craft policies -- ranging from coordinated stockpiling to encouraging diversity of supply that reduce instability in world petroleum markets," he said.
Baker stressed that any effort to reverse the current global economic meltdown must include China and the U.S.
The world is entering a global recession that "will leave few, if any, countries unscathed," he said. "Because of globalization, it is now impossible to address our economic and financial challenges without broad-based international coordination."
To reverse the current economic trends, Baker said, will require unparalleled global coordination of fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policy.
"Any such effort must include China and the U.S.," he said, adding that Washington will be looking to Beijing as a partner as the two countries work together to craft a common international response at the G-20 summit in London.
Warning against protectionism, Baker said protectionist rhetoric already is on the rise in the U.S. and it will take courage for American leaders to resist the temptation to implement politically popular but economically disastrous measures.
"The very last thing we should do during the current crisis is to make it worse by discouraging international trade and investment," he said.
In the longer term, Baker said China and the U.S. must also work together to reduce destabilizing structural imbalances in the world economy.
The U.S. must lower its deficit and encourage increases in savings while China should build on its recent stimulus packages to foster more robust domestic consumption, he said.
Meanwhile, he said "those differences exist, as they do between all countries and all great powers," and what the two sides should do in times of tension is to restrain the rhetoric on both sides, keep lines of communications open and "find compromises that allow us to meet each other half way."
Calling the past three decades "an astonishing 30 years for Sino-American relations," Baker voiced confidence that the next 30 years can be similarly extraordinary if Chinese and U.S. leaders are "wise enough to understand the opportunities that lie before us and brave enough to seize them."
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article