It’s Time We Abandon Illusory Expectations of Coalescing with U.S. to Counter China

 It’s Time We Abandon Illusory Expectations of Coalescing with U.S. to Counter China

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)  

April 8, 2017 
 Translation of an Except

Xi Jinping and Trump ended their two-day summit amid heightened attention and watch of the outside world, turning a new page in China-US relations. Xi Jinping indicated to Trump, "We have a thousand reasons to build Sino-US relations, but there is not even one to jeopardize Sino-American relations." Trump also said, half in jest, that he had not gotten anything from Xi Jinping, but he could feel that he and Xi developed a friendship, adding that he expected both sides would have very, very good relations. Trump also accepted Xi Jinping’s invitation to visit China, and hoped that he could make the trip as soon as possible. Obviously, Sino-American relations have erased some uncertain factors as a result of the Xi-Trump Summit; a new big power relationship has been in formation.

Xi and Trump emphasized that cooperation was the only correct option for both sides. In the next stage, both sides would plan high-echelon bilateral exchanges, fully utilizing the four newly-established "high-level consultation structures," i.e., the diplomatic and security dialogue, the comprehensive economic dialogue, the law enforcement and cybersecurity dialogue, and the social and humanities dialogue, formulating a top cooperation list for early harvest. This is the foundation for China and the US to build a substantive new relationship. As to policy cooperation vis-à-vis North Korea, it could gradually emerge from these mechanisms for dialogue; the issues of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait could also have a new tacit understanding of policy under these new atmospherics.

Whether the Trump government's trade policy with China is soft or hard, and regardless of how Trump exerts pressure on China vis-à-vis the North Korean question, Sino-American relations, after the Xi-Trump Summit, have started a trend of deepening development. We can, under the “US” one China policy, urge the United States to faithfully follow the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances to Taiwan; however, if we entertain the thought of coalescing with the United States to counter China, that will be entirely impossible. This is exactly the new international situation that we have to face.

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