BEIJING: Non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation. These are the principles China follows in its relations with the U.S. With the new Joe Biden administration in the White House, Beijing Review asked Chinese and U.S. analysts for their views on why these concepts are relevant and how the world’s most important bilateral relationship can go forward.
On January 20, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th U.S. president on the steps of the Capitol, two weeks after violent protesters stormed the building. The 78-year-old takes the helm at a time when the country is both deeply divided and mired in the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Amid high expectations the task ahead is tough. Biden has to tackle racial conflicts and the widening gap between the rich and the poor. He also needs to dispel anti-intellectualism, populism and McCarthyism.
Unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, Biden advocates multilateralism, and under him, the U.S. might rejoin the international organizations and treaties from which it withdrew during Trump’s administration. But what will be Biden’s approach to China? Will he reshape the bilateral ties or allow them to deteriorate further? Although tensions between China and the U.S. soared during Trump’s time, there was huge cooperation potential as well. During Biden’s administration, Sino-U.S. relations can be readjusted. China and the U.S. could cooperate in five primary areas despite their differences.
Pandemic prevention and control. The U.S. has suffered more than 400,000 deaths in one year due to COVID-19. Biden announced that the U.S. will return to the World Health Organization on his first day in office and it is hoped the U.S. can work together with China to control the pandemic. Economic recovery. The International Monetary Fund and other international organizations have emphasized that the world economy entered the deepest recession in 2020 since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Almost all major economies experienced contraction, China being the only exception.
– The Daily Mail-Beijing Review News exchange item
