Sino-US Cooperation Has Become the New Normal

 Sino-US Cooperation Has Become the New Normal

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

May 16, 2017

 Translation of an Except

In the early harvest list of the "100-Day Project" released by China and the United States, US President Trump expressed great satisfaction, lavishing praise on the "basket of deals" reached by both sides, and dispatched a delegation to take part in the "One Belt, One Road International Cooperation Summit Forum" in Beijing in reward; in the coming two months, the two countries will make public more consensuses on cooperation. The Sino-American trade war that once worried the entire world, not only was dissolved, bilateral relations have even further deepened. Trump stresses interests and pays less attention to righteousness and justice; US diplomacy, moreover, emphasizes economics and security, and no longer stresses democracy and human rights. In addition, the United States needs the Mainland to help resolve the North Korea question, thus China and the United States will return to the track of cooperation; the big picture of G2 is gradually being formed. The Tsai government expected to make gains by utilizing the Sino-US contradictions, but the premises no longer exist; this has far-reaching impacts on both Taiwan’s diplomacy and external economic/trade relations.

Viewed from the perspective of overall Sino-American relations, the Trump government attaches great importance to bilateral economic/trade ties, especially in reducing trade deficits and increasing US employment; as long as economic/trade disputes can be properly handled and disputes resolved, it represents that bilateral relations can tend to stabilize. Xi Jinping, on the other hand, has actively erected a "new big power relationship"; he hopes to avoid confrontations with the United States, seizing and grasping the opportunities for peaceful development. As the two countries need stabilized ties, Sino-American cooperation could become a new normal.

In so far as the Tsai government is concerned, as Sino-American relations gradually sail into pacific waters, it represents new challenges and pressures. The Tsai government’s foreign policy, as well as cross-Strait and economic/trade policies, is anchored in "distancing itself from China and tilting towards the United States." However, after Sino-American relations returned to the track of cooperation and friendship, the Tsai government probably has to rid itself of unrealistic expectations, and think anew when formulating policies. In the arena of international diplomacy, it will be difficult to expect the US government to lend its strong support for Taiwan; the lesson of this year’s WHA meeting perhaps is a case in point. With regard to external economic/trade relations, we hope to conclude an FTA with the United States; frankly speaking, Beijing will of course vigorously oppose any such deal. The Trump government probably will not do it at the risk of harming bilateral relations; this route is a complete dead-end. The Tsai government should not squander resources and energy to this end; conversely, it should think whether there are other alternatives.

In the short term, Taiwan should clearly observe, from the early harvest list of the 100-Day Project completed by China and the United States with high efficiency, that the Trump government’s external economic/trade policies have gradually been moving from the norms of international economic/trade agreements towards the "exchange of interests." In the long term, we should even more note the opening of the Mainland market to the United States. In the mid-to-long-term, the Mainland’s industries and economy may be upgraded as a result; and the Mainland’s increased investments in the United States and purchases from it will also help the Mainland to obtain advanced technology and management. If Taiwan's industries and enterprises cannot accelerate upgrading, then the technological edge that has already been narrowed considerably will, we are afraid, be hard to maintain.

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