Sep 10, 2012

Asia - Asia-Pacific region 'is testing ground for new Sino-US relationship'

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The Asia-Pacific region is the testing ground for a new relationship between China and the United States that seeks to avoid repeating the conflict between rising and established powers that is found in history, Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Fu Ying has said.

She noted that while the economies of the two top powers in the world were interdependent, "there still seem to be people in the US who worry about competition from China for world dominance".

She added, however, that the Chinese people had little interest in dominating the world.

"Given China's population, its per capita GDP (gross domestic product) remains low and meeting the needs of 1.3 billion people remains the primary policy objective for China for the foreseeable future," she said.

However, the Chinese people do not wish to be dominated either, she said.

Noting that the US has been paying more attention to Asia, she said that countries in the region welcomed more US input to contribute more to regional peace and prosperity. "That's a good thing," she said at an interview on Saturday.

However, she also said there is concern in China that the US' "rebalancing" has been largely focused on military aspects.

"The question is: Who is the target?" she asked.

There has been rumbling in some quarters in China that the US is seeking to contain the rising Asian power in its pivot to Asia.

Referring to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent tour of six nations in the region, the Chinese official Xinhua news agency said in an article last month: "It is true that one objective of Clinton's tour is to contain China's increasing influence, but the core of US strategy is to defend its dominance and hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region."

How China and the US get along is of strategic importance for the Asia-Pacific region, Fu said on Saturday.

She added that China has proposed to the US that the two sides build a new type of power relationship to avoid repeating the kind of conflict between rising and established powers found in history, and that Washington has responded positively.

Noting that the Asia-Pacific region was the testing ground for this relationship, she said it was China's hope that a relationship of trust and cooperation with the US could be nurtured in the region.

"Asean has an important role to play in helping China and the US move in this direction," she added.

Goh Sui Noi
The Straits Times


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