US and China: ‘Strategic contradiction’
between the two
Ibrahim Al-Othaimain
Published — Sunday 20 October 2013
US President Barack Obama’s intended visit early this month to Asia for a
weeklong trip to attend two summits was called off as it coincided with the US
government shutdown. When looked at in conjunction with his visit to Thailand, Cambodia
and Myanmar soon after his
election it reflects a strategic change in the Obama administration's policy,
shifting its focus from the Middle East to Asia in an attempt to restrict China’s rise.
The question here, according to John Mearsheimer, professor of politics at the University of Chicago,
is, wwill politics rather than economy be the deciding factor in restructuring
the future of Asia as was the case with Europe
in the last century?
In the early ‘60s the Chinese
economy was no more than 6 percent of that of the US, whereas it is now more than 50
percent. If the growth rates of the two countries continue the way it is, as
predicted by many analysts, the Chinese economy is expected to exceed that of
the US
within the next decade and to become the largest in the world within the next
two decades. In 2009, this prompted the Obama administration to launch
strategic economic dialogue with China
in an attempt to understand the economic downturn of the US and the rise of the Chinese economy, which is
seen by many financial and business experts as a threat to US sovereignty
over international economy. China
is currently seen as a dynamic contributor to the global economy, and its
continued rise may represent a significant threat to the nature of the
international system, and a sign of transition to a multipolar world as
indicated by prominent US
analysts such as Fareed Zakaria in
"The Post-American World and The Ride of the Rest".
There are two different approaches
within the United States to
deal with China.
The first, rebalancing relations and the necessity of the “cooperative
absorption” of China, is
represented in the writings of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. He asserts that Washington should accept the rise of Beijing and stresses the importance of
political cooperation between the two countries and close alliances or
consultative procedures to avoid conflict over control of the region. The
second, confronting the rising influence of Beijing, is represented in the
writings of Aaron Friedberg, professor of Politics
and International Affairs at Princeton
University, who has worked as assistant minister of the US National
Security and Director of Policy Planning. In particular in his book, "A
Contest for Supremacy: China, America,
and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia", Friedberg analyses strategies
followed by the US and China
in dealing with each other since the early 90s. He concludes that China has always been a control-seeking power,
and that to confront the growth of China
and its mounting ambition, the US
has to stand firm in the areas of Chinese influence. Friedberg quotes former
Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kwan Yew as saying, “If you cannot
stay steadfast in the Pacific region you can never be a world leader”. He says
that if the US allows
illiberal China
to substitute it as a crucial player in this vital region, it will face grave
danger regarding its interests and values throughout the world.
Under Obama the US has tended
to adopt the confrontational approach. In early 2012, after ten years of war
against Afghanistan and Iraq, he announced his new strategy which
shifted US attention to Asia
and the Pacific Ocean. This is highlighted in
an article in ‘Foreign Policy’ by former US
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who asserted that the future of US policy will be determined in Asia and the
Pacific Ocean, not in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
In addition, during a visit by former US
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to
a Vietnamese port in Cam Ranh Bay on the South China Sea, he stated that the United States was seeking to deploy its Navy
fleet to Asia and the Pacific region. Panetta
asserted that the US
would transfer 60 percent of its warships, submarines, and coastal combatant
ships to ports in the region by 2020. This was seen as confirmation of Obama’s
strategy.
China
Jon M. Huntsman
Jr. was a China U.S. ambassador for the Barack Obama administration, a distinguished
fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and is a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Note: J. Stapleton Roy
was a U.S. ambassador for China,
the vice chairman for Kissinger
Associates, Inc., and is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), Common Cause, the New America
Foundation, Human Rights First, the Brookings Institution (think tank), the
Aspen Institute (think tank), and the International Rescue Committee.
George
Soros is the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Peter G. Peterson
was the chairman for the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and is the chairman for the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Lee
Kuan Yew is an honorary director at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and was the prime
minister for Singapore.
Ted
Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), and a member of Kappa Sigma.
James
R. Sasser is a member of Kappa Sigma,
a co-chairman for the United
States-China Policy Foundation, and was a U.S.
ambassador for China.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is the
president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was an
honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
James
A. Leach was a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the chairman for Common Cause, and a visiting professor
at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public
and International Affairs.
Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs is a school at Princeton University.
Eric E. Schmidt was a trustee at Princeton University, a funder for the New America Foundation, is the chairman
for the New America Foundation, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Fareed
Zakaria is a director at the New America Foundation.
Anne-Marie
Slaughter is a director at the New America Foundation, and the dean at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs.
James
D. Zirin is an advisory council member for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, a
director at Human Rights First, and senior
counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Sidley Austin
LLP is the lobby firm for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.
Thomas
A. Cole is a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP, a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a trustee at the University of Chicago.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Lynn Bendheim
Thoman is a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and an advisory council member for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP,
Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), was a member of the Iraq
Study Group, the president of the Economic
Club of Washington, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Hong Kong
Trade Development Council.
Leon
E. Panetta was a member of the Iraq
Study Group, and the defense secretary for the Barack Obama administration.
David M. Rubenstein
is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the president of the Economic Club of
Washington, a trustee at the University of Chicago,
and was a benefactor for the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Valerie B. Jarrett
is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the senior
adviser for the Barack Obama
administration, a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and was a trustee at the University of Chicago.
Samuel
Hellman was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and is a professor at
the University
of Chicago.
Kenneth
M. Jacobs is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a professor at the University of Chicago.
James
S. Crown is a trustee at the University of Chicago,
a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Lester Crown
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Robert S.
Ingersoll was the deputy chairman for the University of Chicago,
a U.S. ambassador for Japan,
and a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Henry A. Kissinger was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), the founder for Kissinger Associates, Inc., an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Winston Bao Lord
is an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, and was an ambassador for China.
J.
Stapleton Roy was a U.S.
ambassador for China,
the vice chairman for Kissinger
Associates, Inc., and is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Jon M. Huntsman
Jr. was a China U.S. ambassador for the Barack Obama administration, a distinguished
fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and is a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
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