Opinion     

Hillary Clinton's China visit: To make or solve troubles?

People's Daily, September 6, 2012

• Chinese President Hu Jintao met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday morning.[Xinhua]

  On Sept. 4, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a visit to China and it is said that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will also pay a visit to China. The United States should bear a big responsibility in the sustained tense situation in East Asia on the territorial dispute and is the key country to constantly carry out military exercises in the Pacific region. Then, what is the purpose of Clinton and other officials' China visit at this time?

  U.S. action damaged the mutual trust

  One of the reasons for Clinton's visit to China is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting about to be held in Russia this weekend. There is a convention between China and the United States, namely the senior officials of both sides will communicate and understand each other before an important multilateral meeting, said Wu Chunsi, executive director with the Institute for International Strategic Studies under Shanghai Institute of International Studies. At present, the development of APEC is at a critical point, which makes the China-U.S. communication more necessary.

  In addition, Clinton came to China not all for APEC. According to Wu Xinbo, with Fudan University, first, the United States has a decline in its interests in APEC; second, Russia is the host country of the meeting and so it will gain praise if the meeting makes substantive results, which the United States is not willing to see. Therefore, the main intention of Clinton is to put pressure on China about the international and regional issues, which mainly include the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands and South China Sea, as well as Iranian and Syrian issues.

  China-U.S. relations maintain an overall stability

  A series of tense situation in East Asia in 2012 were caused by the "eastward of the strategic center" of the United States. Executive director of the Strategic Research Center of China Institute of International Research Foundation Wang Yusheng pointed out that the United States claimed to realize "rebalance" in the Asia-Pacific region due to the rise of China's "anti-intervention strength."

  The "rebalance" refers to the one under the domination of the United States. All the Asian countries including China must submit to the United States to maintain a flourishing "order." Otherwise, the United States will use various methods to punish the "order challengers."

  Clinton's visit to China this time just goes through the motions. 2012 is the election year in the United States and so it is unlikely that both sides will reach substantive and constructive results.

  In Wu's opinion, there will be a new U.S. government after the election. Therefore, the realistic diplomacy against China will be the main direction, no matter which party holds power. Both China and the United States benefited from the currently close relationship, which is the fundamental driving force to push a smooth bilateral relationship forward.

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