BEIJING: Countries can build relationship through cooperation, competition: former Chinese diplomat
As China and the United States refresh their “seriously damaged “relations, they need to manage their competition “cooperatively”, keeping in mind that dialogues are essential to avoid any misunderstandings and unexpected conflicts, according to a veteran former Chinese diplomat.
“Both governments have heavy domestic agendas to attend to, and so even if competition between China and the United States is unavoidable, it needs to be managed well, cooperatively,” Fu Ying, former Chinese vice-foreign minister, wrote in The New York Times on Tuesday.
It is possible for the two countries to develop a relationship of “coopetition” (cooperation plus competition) by addressing each other’s concerns, she noted.
Fu’s article appeared a day after the US General Services Administration announced it would begin the transition process for President-elect Joe Biden and offered a glimpse into the thinking in Beijing.
“There’s no denying that US-China relations have been damaged over the past four years,” Kingsbury wrote in an article, assuming Fu is “setting out the terms under which her government plans to work with a new Biden administration”.
Kingsbury added that Fu was “setting out the terms” under which Beijing plans to work with a new Biden administration.
On Monday, the Biden team said it had tapped Antony Blinken to be US secretary of state. Blinken had served as deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration. For Biden, the choice signals a return to a more traditional foreign policy that favors strong international relationships, according to US media reports.
In her op-ed, Fu said each side must accurately assess the other’s intentions in order to revive the relationship.
“It would be a tragedy of history if two countries of such power moved toward confrontation based on misperceptions,” she wrote. “That would only work against their own fundamental interests, and many businesses and people would pay the price.”
Fu’s comment echoed a warning from former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who last week urged Washington and Beijing to define what to avoid and achieve and forge a “strategically stable relationship” capable of preventing a catastrophe comparable to World War I.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN
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