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Next US president must choose to engage China, not try to contain it
Charles R. Stith says the broad framework of this important bilateral relationship should be anchored by cooperation
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Over the past couple of months, I’ve been on a road trip that has taken me to the Middle East, Africa, and now Asia. Everywhere I have gone, people want to talk about the upcoming US presidential election. Everyone everywhere has, at least, the same two questions: How did Donald Trump wind up as the presumptive Republican nominee? And, can he win? Given some of Trump’s outlandish statements about building walls, barring Muslims and trade rape by China, the concern is well placed. Specific to this part of the world, the concern takes on added weight, given that, when the subject of China has been broached, the responses have provided more heat than light.
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Whoever wins in November will have their hands full. One of the top items on anybody’s list will be China. Having spent more than a decade moving back and forth between the US and China as well as closely following China’s engagement in Africa, there are a few things I would suggest to the next president if the US is going to get its bilateral relationship with China right.
Rather than trying to offer a laundry list of things the US might do to recalibrate our bilateral relationship, let me suggest a framework that should inform whatever policies and programmes we might advance in the Asia-Pacific region.
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