A dual leadership structure in emerges in Asia

The establishment of a new order to ensure Asia's long-term prosperity and stability requires the equal participation of China and the United States, says an editorial in People's Daily. Excerpts:

In the future, China will continue to play a leading role on economic matters in Asia, while the US remains the unchallenged leader in the fields of military and security affairs. Some believe that this emerging structure will oblige China and the US to accommodate each other's core interests by developing a complementary relationship on the basis of each power's own strengths, and that will likely ensure regional stability and prosperity for years to come. Others think that the dual-leadership structure will lead to constant conflicts.

The crux of the matter is whether the two great powers, China and the US, can coexist in peace in Asia. In the context of the rise of China and the US' Asia-Pacific strategic rebalancing, the evolution of the dual-relationship structure is directly related to Asia's development prospects and the establishment of a reliable regional security mechanism.

Asia's economic landscape has changed fundamentally. China's rapid economic development and fast regional integration have made Asian countries tightly linked with China in the fields of trade, investments and markets, leading to deepening mutual interdependence. At the same time, East Asian countries' share of trade with the US has gradually fallen.

The United States is still the world's largest economy, whose economic impact on Asian countries should not be overlooked. But many commentators have pointed out such a China-centric Asia economic integration is a market-driven result that cannot be artificially reversed.

Meanwhile, the United States is trying to maintain its military predominance through a variety of arrangements. The current security architecture in Asia created by the US still follows the old ways after World War II that strengthens bilateral and multilateral security alliances with its allies. Such old ways, which do not take into account the new, significant changes in Asia and are out of line with the process of its economic integration, have no future.

With regard to the future of Asia, the US will continue to play an important role in Asia's economic affairs, and China will also hold the balance in Asia's security mechanism. Washington often stresses that it welcomes a peaceful and prosperous China. Although the US is still the only superpower in the world, the balance of power is changing, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since the old mechanism is outdated, there should be a new arrangement. The establishment of a new order to ensure Asia's long-term prosperity and stability requires equal participation of China and the United States. In this regard, there is no lack of clear understanding inside the US. But the US has not yet had the courage to give heartfelt recognition to China's status as a great power and to work together with China to build a new type of big-power relationship featuring mutual respect and win-win cooperation. This is why the US' rebalancing strategy sent wrong signals to regional countries.