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Are the U.S. and China headed for a
“new great power relationship?”
That is what Xi Jinping, China’s new
president has called for. He and U.S.
President Barack Obama kicked off
that vision last month, in an
unusually informal meeting at the
Sunnylands resort in California.
And in a rare and exclusive interview
with Christiane Amanpour, Chinese
Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai
said that it’s “obvious” that the
countries need each other.
“The United States is the most
powerful country in the world,”
Ambassador Cui said. “China is
working very hard to modernize the
country to develop its economy and
improve the livelihood of its people.
So it’s very obvious that it’s
important for China to have stable
and healthy relations with the
United States.”
Cui is on the front lines of
implementing the two presidents’
vision for a new relationship
between China and the U.S.
And though the surroundings at the
bucolic Sunnylands may been
relaxing, the conversation about the
challenges ahead almost certainly
was not.
On top of that list of importance
between the two countries is likely
cyber security, with both countries
trading allegations of widespread
espionage.
The issue, or some version of it, was
recently brought to the fore, when
former U.S. intelligence officer
Edward Snowden escaped from the
Chinese “Special Administrative
Region” of Hong Kong – that case,
Cui said, is “none of our business.”
But the world of cyber is a much
broader issue than one young
American.
“I don’t think finger-pointing would
be helpful to either side,”
Ambassador Cui said. “And
technologically, the United States is
much more advanced than China in
information technology. So
normally, I always believe it should
be the weaker side to worry about
the stronger side, not the other way
around.”
A working group on cyber security
that the two countries have set up,
he said, is a good indication that the
U.S. and China want to “work
together” on the issue.
Washington and Beijing have
seemed closer together on another
issue of great importance to both
governments: North Korea.
Long known as North Korea’s closest
ally, China has recently seemed to
distance itself, suggesting that
denuclearization on the Korean
Peninsula is as much a goal of the
Chinese government as stability.
“I think that denuclearization and
stability are part of the same thing,”
Ambassador Cui told Amanpour.
With nuclear weapons on the
peninsula, there is no guarantee of
stability, he said, but military
intervention to stop North Korea
from weaponizing would be self-
defeating.
“We are trying our best to bring
everybody back to negotiations; so
far, we have not succeeded,”
Ambassador Cui said. “We hope that
others could do the same.”
