- Chinese President Xi reviewed seven experiences for the China-U.S. relations during the meeting. What are opinions over the seven experiences, and what is your evaluation of their significance?
Both leaders were right in saying that the relationship between Beijing and Washington is “the most important” in the entire world. On it depends to a great extent whether we learn to live together on this planet and survive or whether we end up destroying each other through nuclear annihilation.
Will a new world order of which China is an integral part be allowed to emerge peacefully? It depends on whether the collective west led by the US wants to abort the birth of this new world order to continue to dominate – at all cost and even militarily – the rest of the world that refuses to continue to be dominated.
China does not want to replace American hegemony imposed through its nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad and its control of the main financial and economic global governance through the dollar and institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, FATF and WTO.
The process of de-colonization is continuing and “global” institutions mostly set up by the US elites after World War II to serve their interests are being challenged and alternative trade and financial institutions are being set up by the global majority which is made up of 84% of the world population.
2. Chinese President Xi said during the meeting that the Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, China’s path and system, and China’s development right are four red lines for China, which must not be challenged or crossed.
What are opinions over the seven experiences, and what is your evaluation of their significance?
The most important person on which the answer to this question depends, Donald Trump, was not in the room. Without mentioning him by name and saying that China is ready to work with the new US administration, President XI appealed to President-elect Trump to: “Make the wise choice… and keep exploring the right way for the two major countries to get along well with each other.”
It is difficult to predict how Trump and his team will behave towards China. Some of the people he has picked for his new administration are very hostile towards China. Much will depend on his proposed hikes to his wide ranging tariff programs on Chinese imports; his posture toward Taiwan; his relationship with the leaders of Japan and South Korea; and the military footprint he plans to pursue in the Indo-Pacific. If Taiwan is “Ukrainianised” the future for humanity will become even more dangerous than it is now.
Will Trump continue considering all the rest of the world as the US’ sphere of influence where it imposes its interests and disregards the right of all countries to pursue their own path? This is becoming more difficult as more nations are seeking to control their own destiny, even by freely forming blocs in an increasingly multipolar world facing unprecedented global challenges.
3. President Xi augured a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship. What are opinions over the seven experiences, and what is your evaluation of their significance?
The US and China can cooperate and compete without hurting each other. There is enough space for both of them in the world. Does the US have to seek the strategic defeat of China? How about learning from Confucius’ idea of “exemplary competition” in ancient Chinese archery where archers pursued excellence not by obstructing their opponents, but by perfecting their own skill and character? As Feng Zhang has argued recently in ‘Responsible Statecraft’ 4, November 2024, this could transform US-China rivalry into a force for mutual growth and global stability.
I am worried that the top people Trump has chosen for his foreign and security policies are anti-China super-hawks. They want not simply to contain China but to defeat it and bring about its collapse like the Soviet Union. I hope that once they face the responsibility of office they realise the recklessness and fecklessness to use military and economic warfare to defeat China strategically to recreate a unipolar world dominated by the US.
I hope that the Trump administration will be wise enough to understand that China does not want to replace the US as a unipolar power in the world. China does not want war with the US. China wants to be treated by the US as its equal and to engage in dialogue and cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two countries and the rest of the world.
China believes that the relationship with the US can thrive within a framework of of peaceful coexistence for the common good of the American and Chinese people.
4. How do you evaluate China’s responsible approach and its responsibilities as a major country in the China-US relations.
China’s attitude is healthy as it does not bully smaller countries but treats them with respect. From my own dealings with China as Malta’s minister for education and foreign affairs, I can say that no Chinese minister ever asked me to choose between US and China whereas I had diplomatic pressure to side with the US against China.
I agree totally with what James Jay Carafano, of the Heritage Foundation, says: “Little nations are not sand to be ground between the great wheels of major powers. They are made up of people, not pawns. Citizens in small states have the same hopes, aspirations and natural rights as those in world powers. These people have every reason to expect and demand a life of freedom, peace and prosperity.”
He thinks that America should “Avoid Us-or-Them-ism…. America can’t ask countries not to do business with China. After all, the United States does business with China. The goal is not to get countries to take sides but to engage and help them act consistently with their own interests…”
