The “2011 Forum on China Diplomacy Review and Future Outlook” was held on December 18, 2011, in Beijing. Yuan Pang, the director of the American Studies Institute of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, discussed the new challenges that China-U.S. relations presently face. Yuan listed four challenges: 1) The biggest challenge is that the foundation for long-term cooperation between China and the U.S. is shaky. After the killing of bin-Laden and the U.S. withdrawal of its troops (from Iraq), will anti-terrorism continue to be a cooperative strategy? As the complementary relationship of the economy and trade between China and the U.S. gradually manifests more friction and conflict, will cooperation in the areas of the economy and trade continue to support China-U.S. relations? These two foundations face challenges. 2) The second area for challenges is the change in the international environment, namely in our neighborhood, where the U.S. is making use of those countries that have territorial conflicts with China. 3) Third is that Russia, as our strategic partner in the past, is expecting China to come to the front line. 4) The last one is that the strategic view has changed. In Deng’s era, China’s strategy was to learn from the U.S. in technology and absorb capital. After Deng, the strategy has become fighting and cooperation at the same time. What is the direction China should take right now? It is not clear.
Source: ifeng.com, December 19, 2011
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