"Remaining Rivals": Why Beijing Announced an Extremely Important Historical Milestone in Relations with Washington

The relationship between Beijing and Washington is at an extremely important historical stage, said Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to him, the Republic of China, as well as the United States, "will benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation."

“The President of the People's Republic of China stressed that, following the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation, China is ready to work with the United States to intensify contacts and interaction in all areas, to jointly resolve regional and international problems and global challenges, as well as to properly resolve differences in order to return US-China relations are on the right path to healthy and sustainable development, ”the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in a statement.

Xi Jinping also noted that the ties between the United States and the PRC are among the most important in the modern world.

As he stressed, the fundamental interests of both states and their peoples, as well as the future of the whole world, depend on whether the two countries can maintain normal relations.

Earlier, the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defense Wu Qian said that Beijing is protesting Washington for inflating the notorious "Chinese threat" and unfounded criticism of the nuclear build-up.

According to him, the preparation by the Pentagon for more than 20 years of the annual "Report on the development of military capabilities and the development of security tools for China" is "openly hegemonic behavior."

"Here we are obliged to seriously warn the United States that any attempts to interfere in China's internal politics and exert psychological pressure on it will crash against the" Great Wall of Steel "of the People's Liberation Army (China.

)," Wu Qian said in an official statement. , published on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the PRC.

This is a report released by the Pentagon last week.

It says that China has long viewed the United States as a rival and "characterizes its view of strategic competition in terms of rivalry between influential states and the collision of opposing systems."

“The ambitions and intentions of the PRC are becoming more and more clear.

Beijing seeks to change the international order in such a way that it is more in line with the Chinese authoritarian system and national interests, ”the authors of the document say.

Trade aspect

It is worth noting that the Pentagon published a report on China, and the PRC made a number of statements about the United States against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations between Washington and Beijing on a trade deal, which was concluded by the 45th head of the White House, Donald Trump.

We will remind, in January last year, Washington and Beijing came to an agreement on the so-called first phase of the trade deal.

Then the Chinese side pledged to purchase American goods for $ 200 billion in the next two years. The United States hoped that this would significantly reduce the trade imbalance between the PRC and the United States.

However, a few months later, in the summer of 2020, shortly before the fall presidential elections, Trump told reporters that he was no longer interested in a trade deal with China.

Later, speaking in the state of Arizona, he announced that, at his behest, trade negotiations with the PRC had been postponed.

And after that, he completely allowed the "separation" of the American and Chinese economies in the event of his re-election for a second term.

• Donald Trump

• Reuters

• © Rachel Mummey / File

After Biden came to power, his administration said that he was reviewing Trump's decisions, including on trade with China.

As clarified by the adviser to the President of the United States on national security Jake Sullivan last week, US Trade Representative Catherine Tai is in talks with the Chinese government regarding a trade deal concluded earlier by Trump.

Sullivan said Washington is deciding "how best to move forward."

He noted that this is not only about tariffs, but also about the general approach of the United States to trade relations with the PRC.

At the same time, the American media report that Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are planning to hold a virtual summit next week.

The fact that this interaction should take place before the end of the year was confirmed earlier in the White House.

"Slow down the development of the PRC"

According to the head of the sector of economics and politics of China at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.

EAT.

Primakov of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Lukonin, Beijing believes that relations between China and the United States are at an important historical stage, since, despite the statements of the Biden administration about the revision of Trump's policy towards China, the trade war that he started continues.

“The current US authorities are seeking to further sever economic relations with the Republic of China.

Moreover, Washington and Beijing remain rivals in many other areas, ”Lukonin said in an interview with RT.

Recall that in the summer of 2018, Trump and his team in the White House began a trade confrontation with China, setting duties of 25% on the import of more than 800 types of products from China in the amount of $ 34 billion a year.

With Biden coming to power, the new administration announced that it did not intend to abolish duties on imports from the PRC any time soon.

At the same time, Washington acknowledged that these restrictions could negatively affect American companies and consumers.

Moreover, under Biden, the United States took a number of anti-Chinese measures, in particular, published a list of companies in the republic that allegedly threaten national security.

As Lukonin noted, Beijing is interested in seeing this trade confrontation finally end, since the economies of the United States and China are closely intertwined.

“For the further development of the PRC, it is important to cooperate with the American side, and now Beijing says it is ready to make some compromises.

However, at the same time, he emphasizes that there are aspects on which China will be adamant.

They concern the political system of the republic, the power of the Chinese Communist Party, the Taiwan issue and some other areas, ”the analyst said.

In turn, political scientist Alexander Asafov drew attention to the fact that Washington does not stop political pressure on Beijing either.

“Americans are acting politically to gain an advantage in unfair competition.

Washington's policy towards the PRC is based on the desire to get the maximum benefit for itself from any contacts with the republic.

And this is not only about ousting Beijing from competitive markets and lowering prices for raw materials.

To achieve their goals, the Americans resort, among other things, to methods of diplomatic pressure, ”the expert said.

For this reason, China is hinting that the point at which US-China ties are now located has never been so low, Asafov notes.

"The actions of Washington against the companies of the PRC, official Beijing are an advanced stage of aggression, an attempt to violate the sovereignty of the republic," the expert emphasized in a commentary on RT.

Beijing is in favor of constructive dialogue and an end to the destructive activity of the United States, Asafov said.

“This very message is clearly visible in Xi Jinping's statement.

He reminds us that cooperating is much better than fighting.

The PRC also offers the United States to start building a common future, since all economic circumstances favor this, but on the basis of equality, which the American side is not used to, ”the analyst said.

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

• AFP

• © NICOLAS ASFOURI

However, as predicted by Lukonin, no serious economic or political indulgence in relation to China from the United States will follow in the near future.

“The first phase of the trade deal did not bring the success that the United States originally hoped for.

This happened, among other things, due to the pandemic.

Now we should not expect any progress in negotiations on trade relations between the United States and China.

Under the current conditions, Beijing continues to develop, and Washington is trying to understand in what other ways China can be slowed down, ”the expert stated.

However, Lukonin believes that the upcoming virtual summit of Biden and Xi Jinping will make it clear to the international community whether Beijing and Washington will begin to move towards each other at least a little or whether the confrontation will continue.

“These talks may touch upon, in particular, issues of economic interaction and strategic stability,” the analyst said.

However, as experts summarize, so far no fundamental changes in US policy towards China have been observed under Biden.

“I do not see any special differences in the anti-Chinese course of the 45th and 46th presidents of the United States.

The new administration continues Trump's heightened containment of the PRC.

And so far there are no prerequisites for any major changes.

After all, the main thing for the United States is to slow down the economic and social development of the PRC as much as possible.

And Washington will continue to act based on this goal, ”Lukonin said.