Efforts needed to strengthen Sino-US ties

Experts call for action to find common ground and enhance trust on both sides

Government action and efforts from communities beyond government are needed to help the United States and China find common ground, enhance bilateral trust, and stabilize their relations, said US experts.

"I think we should talk about our interests, our shared interests, and our diverging interests and still try to accommodate one another," said Amy Celico, the principal and director of the National Committee on US-China Relations at Albright Stonebridge Group, at the 2023 annual conference of the Institute for China-America Studies on Oct 17.

Celico said the US business community has been among Washington's biggest "cheerleaders" for US-China relations. "The business community … has seen so much growth in commercial opportunities in China and so much future potential in the China market.

"The American business community needs to continue to advocate in Beijing in order to continue to have what it wants to have, which is the opportunity to continue to grow, to innovate, to source from China, to manufacture in China, and of course, to sell to Chinese consumers," she said.

She said there have been and will be some "signposts" related to US-China official ties, the APEC leaders' meeting next month, the recently concluded European Union-US summit, and Israel, and people "should be looking to see if we really can see some stabilization in the relationship in the short term going into 2024".

"If we see positive developments, we should be among the people saying, 'Let's take advantage of that low-hanging fruit, let's applaud some small steps,'" she said. "Even if they're not getting to these major strategic issues that our two countries face, we can't sit back and do nothing and expect that the relationship can moderate itself."

Denis Simon, a former vice-chancellor of Duke University who served as executive vice-chancellor of Duke Kunshan University in China from 2015 to 2020, talked about the renewal of the US-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement, or STA, at the same event.

Last-minute decision

The STA was signed on Jan 31, 1979, weeks after the US and China established diplomatic relations. It had been renewed every five years. In August, the US made a last-minute decision to extend the agreement for six months before it expires, and the two countries would renegotiate some terms during the extension period.

"The deadline for some actions is February 2024," Simon said. "The central problem right now that both sides face is whether the two countries can figure out how to incorporate a slew of new problems and issues into a workable agreement."

Nonetheless, the agreement does provide an umbrella that implies the blessing of both governments that cooperation in science and technology is important for both countries, said Simon.

Simon said the reverberations of the "China Initiative", a terminated US Department of Justice program to prosecute certain science researchers and academics affiliated with China, was leading to an increase in the number of Chinese scholars living in the US returning to China or going to other countries.

"US talent pipeline would suffer immensely if there was a sharp drop in the number of Chinese students and scholars coming to the United States," Simon said.

Simon mentioned the ongoing discussions on higher education cooperation and exchanges between the US and China, with one of the significant issues being "the 290,000 Chinese students versus the so-called 400 American students in China". To achieve "a better balance", the focus should be on "getting more US students to go to China".

At the state-to-state level, David Lampton, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said both sides need to adjust their strategic postures toward each other over some essential strategic problems.

He said that in terms of US domestic politics, the US and China need to get something done by next month.

Michael Swaine, a senior research fellow at Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said the US and China should avoid differences in critical issues, like the Taiwan question, from developing into a great-power conflict.

He said that communication is important, but the US-China relations need more. "Just talking to each other is not going to solve some of the fundamental problems that we have and will not provide the basis for making progress," Swaine said.