How to treat a rising China?

The Chinese has a saying: One mountain cannot sustain two tigers (The Chinese consider the tiger as the king of the forest). From the economic point of view, the United States of America, as the largest economic entity, is the king of the world. However, it seems the king is facing a strong competitor from a rising China, the total GDP of which is likely to surpass it in the near future as some experts had predicted. Although some people might question if China has the ability to threaten the status of the U.S., it does raise public interests of how the U.S. would treat a rising China.

Turns out it is also a national concern for both countries. In the 25th session of U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade held in Chicago on Dec. 17, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang urged “the United States to show ‘strategic foresight’ in the way it treats China, and pursue cooperation rather than confrontation for the benefits of both countries.”

The Vice Premier said a growing China poses no threat to America’s leading role because China does not have “the intention nor the capacity” to do so due to the fact that “China’s economic aggregate is just 55 percent of that of the U.S., and the per capita GDP is merely one eighth of the U.S. level.”

Nevertheless, China’s economic aggregate continuously expands and it has reached the second place in the world’s economic area. The Vice Premier suggested that both counties should therefore “share the strategic consensus of strengthening cooperation for a win-win end.”

U.S. President Obama agreed that both countries should take the “bilateral, regional and global cooperation to a new level,” as he stated at the Asia Pacific Economic Conference in Beijing this November after signing a landmark cooperation deal.

The New York Times also published an article titled “Work With China, Don’t Contain It” to express the importance of building a cooperative relationship between the two countries.

No doubt that the relationship between a rising power and the established power is very complicated. The good news is, at this moment, it seems the two countries have come to an agreement of working together for bilateral prosperity, which is going to benefit the CNMI due to the geographical situation of being so close to China and the special political status of being a part of the U.S. With such advantages, it is just a matter of whether the CNMI is willing to seize the opportunity to improve its economy as well as its people’s lives.