On U.S.-China Relations

I am no expert in this field, but some things seem obvious to me. Both the United States Government and the Government of China must be concerned with the welfare of their citizens, and both must seek to promote the economic growth of their economies in order to benefit their citizens. Each Government understands this fact about the other.

Each Government will insist on developing military capacity in order to assure its security. Both countries will seek to be increasingly involved in international trade to obtain products that they need or desire from abroad and to sell into foreign markets, and both will seek in the long run to have a balanced trade with the value of imports equal to the value of exports.

Neither the American people nor the Chinese people have any antagonism toward the other. While there is considerable ignorance in the United States about our history, those who know American history are happy that China and the United States were allied against the Japanese during World War II, are pleased that there was a history of Americans seeking to help China during the early 20th century, and are saddened by the economic imperialism of the West toward's China in an earlier time.

In future decades, the two countries will inevitably find their interests coincide in some cases, don't affect each other in others, and are in opposition in still other situations. With good will, their Governments will find ways to cooperate where their interests coincide and will find peaceful means for dealing with opposition of interests. In some cases there will be a "you scratch my back and I will scratch yours" trade-off.

Both peoples and both Governments want to avoid war. The relations between the USSR and the United States were much worse during much of the second half of the 20th century than are those between China and the United States now. During the Cold War the United States and the USSR avoided armed conflict, and China and the United States should also be able to avoid armed conflict. It is important that they do so, and their Governments should be held accountable to assure peace and prosperity.

I assume that each Government is monitoring the opinion of the people of the other. I hope that other American bloggers will make public their support for peaceful and mutually prosperous relations between China and the United States.