The first major meeting between the United States and China of the Obama administration has just wrapped up in Washington. Around two hundred high-level Chinese officials, including 28 ministers, attended two days of talks with their American counterparts. Secretaries Clinton and Geithner, who chaired the two ‘tracks’ of the summit, recently wrote an op-ed in the WSJ outlining the purpose and aims of this first annual "Strategic and Economic Dialogue."
Their arguments echoed what is fast becoming a central theme of Obama’s foreign policy and of the U.S.-China relationship in particular:
"Simply put, few global problems can be solved by the U.S. or China alone. And few can be solved without the U.S. and China together. The strength of the global economy, the health of the global environment, the stability of fragile states and the solution to nonproliferation challenges turn in large measure on cooperation between the U.S. and China."
Indeed, economic issues – including economic recovery and re-balancing the global economy - climate change, and North Korea dominated the two days of conversation. A number of other foreign policy issues - Afghanistan, Pakistan, African development, and human rights - were also touched on.
The event was not intended to produce any policy breakthroughs, but to open a space for the exchange of views and the establishment of contacts between officials. Clinton and Geithner argue that these high-level strategic discussions with the Chinese will help build the trust and working relationships we need to tackle today’s huge global challenges.
CAP fellow Nina Hachigian warnsthat though the two countries do have shared interests with respect to global problems, their divergent perceptions, priorities, and strategies could lead to much frustration and few breakthroughs. Progress, while necessary, will come slowly.
The summit was supposed to intensify the bilateral discussion on climate change, with the hope of approaching a policy consensus in the run up to the December negotiations in Copenhagen, which are supposed to produce a successor to the Kyoto protocol. The participation of both countries is essential to any effective global agreement.
Time is ticking. China recently surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest greenhouse polluter. Its emissions, and ours, keep growing. But despite the accusations of congressional Republicans, the country is doing much more than we have: it has poured $200 billion in stimulus funds into sustainable development (compared to the $98 billion from ACES) and launched ambitious initiatives in renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grids, building and appliance standards, hybrid and electric cars, and much more. The government is leading the largest railway expansion in history, experimenting with over 40 eco-city projects, and increasing its forest coverage 20% by 2010.
The meeting seemed to jumpstart a long-discussed strategic partnership between the two countries to develop and deploy a number of key technologies. Senior Chinese and American officials signed a ‘memorandum of understanding’ promising joint efforts in electric vehicles, energy efficiency, smart grid, carbon-capture and storage, and more.
As CAP Fellow Julian Wong has stressed, the U.S. should also help China develop institutional capacity at the provincial level to implement these technologies and measure their impact. Japan and the European Union, other major emitters, have already engaged with China on climate-energy issues. They should also be part of any U.S.-China collaboration.
This annual meeting will help define our relationship with China, and its role in the world. Antagonizing and isolating China through competition is unnecessary and counter-productive. The challenge is to convince Beijing, through engagement and cooperation, to become a responsible member of the international community.
However, as Hachigian points out in another article, there are limits to this bilateral forum. No global challenge features China and the U.S. as the only key players. And other countries will be needed to push China into doing more for the global common good.