US & China meet (again) to build bridges

US-China Relations

Senior diplomats from the US and China have commenced meetings in Beijing as part of the latest charm offensive by the Obama administration to try and build bridges between the two.

Sino-US relations have been famously frosty for as long as the writer can remember, but in the light of America's gigantic trade deficit and China's increasingly important role in the global renewable energy markets the two are now waking up to the true (economic) value of a peaceful relationship.

The Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg (pictured) and White House adviser Jeffrey Bader arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday to discuss a wide range of issues. However the visit didn't get off to the best start as the two delegates were greeted with calls by China to forgo further sanctions on Iran - a major US foreign policy goal.

The most recent hostilities have involved disagreements over Tibet, trade, Taiwan and the very recent dispute over who's to blame for the notorious Google hacking.

Finding common ground

China was upset when US President Barack Obama met Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. It was also angered by Taiwan securing a weapons deal from the US.

But one issue where the two can find common ground is over North Korea, both agree on the need to bring the rogue state back to the negotiating table over plans to end its nuclear programmes.

China has led the six-party talks - bringing together the two Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan - which its ally, North Korea cancelled last year.

This three day meeting is ahead of a series of extremely important forums including a global nuclear security summit in Washington in April, and the next round of Sino-US "Strategic and Economic Dialogue", which last took place in July 2009.

"If this (visit) suggests that we are refocusing on the future and the important issues that we can work on together, I think we are encouraged by this.

"A car with two drivers"

"This is expressly why we sought this meeting - to be able to refocus on very specific issues, not the least of which is obviously our joint concerns about Iran," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

Zhao Qizheng, spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), gave a slightly different take on the atmosphere between the two nations, comparing the Sino-US relationship to a car.

"It has two drivers. Americans should know this. China also has control over the steering wheel, the accelerator, and the brake. The two drivers must consult with each other to drive the car. Otherwise it will only spin around."

Related Articles:

US trade deficit | Google vs. China | Can the US and China ever be friends?

Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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