Renewing Hope for Stronger China-US Ties in 2018
BEIJING China and the United States both stand tall as the two richest and most powerful nations in our world. Only Beijing can call itself an equal to Washington on the world stage. But with two great countries you can not anticipate relations to go smoothly at all times.
In the great power diplomacy games, leading nations will continue to test each other and vie for greater influence and global dominance. That’s human nature and you can never expect otherwise. So, now we are in the midst of China and the US as top players facing off in high-stakes geo-politics gamesmanship.
Yet simmering despite tensions, the world can rest assured that the doomsday gossip mongerng about wars and dark days ahead for Sino-US ties are nothing more than fake news intended to grab bigger audiences for western media outlets seeking larger advertising revenues.
In this backdrop, let’s take a closer look at the real missions for Washington and Beijing. Both sides support peace, prosperity and respect each other’s sovereignty. And unlike Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Donald J. Trump will not march into China demanding a bilateral trade deal but with over-bearing political strings attached.
President Trump is a businessman first and foremost. He had achieved so much success in life as a real estate mogul in the world’s financial capital city - New York. He understands more than anyone else that to sign trade deals in China, you don’t mix business with politics.
Nevertheless, much of the world, especially the US, Japan, South Korea and Russia are worried about North Korea building a nuclear weapons program that give them capabilities to launch ballistics missiles strikes with the potential to hit Seoul, Tokyo and Washington. Hence, Beijing, as big brother to Pyongyang, could play a crucial role to reign in North Korea’s self-destructive behavior.
Yes, it’s understood that China and Russia do not condone North Korea’s nuclear weapons’ development, but if the two nations can demonstrate that they are enforcing tougher sanctions against Pyongyang then such actions could reflect in better cross-border trade and investment deals with the US.
According to the New York Times (April 11, 2017):
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/world/asia/trump-china-trade-north-korea.html
** **
“President Trump … opened the door on Tuesday to concessions on his trade agenda with Beijing in exchange for greater Chinese support in pressuring Pyongyang. In doing so, he lashed together two sharply different issues in an already complex relationship.
**“I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!” Mr. Trump declared in a morning Twitter post. Minutes later, he warned: “North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great …” **
So as we can see, it serves both the interests of China and the US to work in tandem to ensure North Korea does not conduct future testing of its nuclear warheads. By pursuing a peaceful path of development in Asia, we can witness more glorious ties between Beijing and Washington emerge.
China can achieve victories here, and don’t forget the US trade deficit with China has hit record levels as of the end of November.
As reported by Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/05/us-trade-deficit-rises-to-48-7-billion-on-record-imports.html
“So far this year, the United States is running a trade deficit of $462.9 billion, up 11.9 percent from January through October 2016. U.S. exports are up 5.3 percent this year; a weaker dollar has made U.S. goods less expensive overseas. Imports are up 6.5 percent the first 10 months of 2017.
The politically sensitive trade deficit in goods with China rose 1.7 percent to $35.2 billion from September to October and is up 7 percent this year to $309 billion.”
_ _
President Trump won the White House promising to “Make America Great Again” by endorsing “America First” policies, which means he would take a tougher stand against China, such as raising imports tariffs and duties.
Nonetheless, it should be noted that as the year 2017 comes to an end, the Trump administration still has not introduced rigorous trade measures against China. That’s a good sign, but it would be foolish to conclude that Trump is bluffing on tough trade talk.
In 2018, we are likely to see a bumpy ride at the negotiating table for Sino-China trade and investment deals, however Beijing has room to maneuver while Trump delays an announcement of stiffer trade measures.
Meanwhile, China should recognize that Trump is seeking fair trade, but Washington will not pursue an isolationist agenda that shuts out foreign companies from doing business in the US. Beijing can negotiate win-win solutions for both nations to boost bilateral economic ties.
When President Trump visited Beijing last November, the US leader and Chinese President Xi Jinping had demonstrated a firm commitment to maintain peace and prosperity. American companies had benefited as well by scoring big-time deal-making.
Deals between US and Chinese entities totaled more than $US250bn in value, according to CNBC:
**“**The Commerce Department has revealed the list of the 37 major deals signed between U.S. and Chinese companies around President Donald Trump's trip through Asia.
The dollar value of those deals is in excess of $250 billion. Catepillar, Boeing, and Goldman Sachs are just some of the notable names on the list of companies that made deals with China, the full list of which is below.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the deals were a good example of Trump helping to build bilateral trade relationships between the two nations.”
So what can we expect? Nobody can answer that question except for President Trump, since he has been known for calling the Chinese the “best negotiators” and Trump will utilize a strategy to remain “unpredictable” in order to match up.
But without hesitation, we can believe peace in the region is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Not even North Korea would act so foolish as to launch missiles at the US or its allies, since the repercussions would lead to catastrophic consequences.
However, there will be some tricky trade winds, but eventually the two great nations will find a grand solution to sign up for amazing bilateral trade and investment deals. But to reach the golden destination, there will be tough-talking negotiations beforehand.
Just don’t lose hope. There really is light at the end of the trade tunnel.
Tom McGregor:
WeChat: 86 13439758718