With U.S.-China Tensions Easing, DPP Now in Dilemma
Want Daily Editorial, September 29, 2023
Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of mainland China’s Global Times, posted on Weibo, revealing that he had dinner with Keith Bradsher, Beijing bureau chief of the New York Times. Hu raised key points about U.S.-China relations and Taiwan, but his comments are like the official position of the mainland and lack new ideas. However, closer attention should be paid to the signal sent by this dinner meeting. Although Hu has retired, his opinions still carry a lot of weight. Under mainland China’s system, he can communicate with foreign media that are generally characterized as “anti-China,” which is a signal that Beijing intends to ease tensions between China and the United States.
Hu’s meeting with the New York Times is just a more obvious signal to ease tensions. Since June of this year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has revealed his stance on the traditional people-to-people friendship between China and the United States six times since June this year. These six instances include a meeting with Bill Gates in mid-June, sending a congratulatory letter to the Bond of Kuliang: U.S.-China People-to-People Friendship Forum, hosting a high-profile banquet honoring Henry Kissinger in late July, responding to a letter from the “U.S.-China Youth Student Exchange Association” in the State of Washington in late August, and recently responding to General Joseph Stilwell’s descendants and the U.S.-China Aviation Heritage Foundation chairman and Flying Tigers veterans.
Bradsher has a deep connection with China. The fourth generation of his ancestors came to China during the 18th century and established schools and hospitals in the Kuliang area of Fuzhou, Fujian Province. In June this year, the local government held the “Bond of Kuliang” Forum to commemorate the historical connections. Xi Jinping sent a special letter expressing his congratulations. It can be inferred that the Hu-Bradsher meeting was an official arrangement, and the United States is also glad to see the progress. Xi’s two recent replies are all relevant to U.S.-China military cooperation, which means that the long-delayed U.S.-China military exchanges are expected to break the ice.
Xi’s stance on U.S.-China people-to-people ties was made known through two in-person meetings and four letters. Both are equally important. These six gestures have three things in common. First, they constantly call for the advancement of U.S.-China people-to-people friendship and state that the future for U.S.-China relations lies in the youth, proposing that “we place our hope in the American people.” Second, they repeatedly emphasize the three principles of the U.S.-China relationship, mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation. Third, it has been reiterated that China and the United States can achieve mutual success and common prosperity. These gestures paved the way for Xi’s incoming trip to San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in November and his engagements with the American people outside of APEC.
Public opinion in Taiwan and the Western countries is often not sensitive to the complex political signals on the Chinese mainland and thus draws biased conclusions. The most typical example is that Xi did not attend this year’s Group of 20 summit and a meeting between Xi and President Biden was not arranged in New Delhi, concluding that Beijing has given up on facilitating the meeting, assuming that Xi will not participate in the APEC leaders’ meeting. On the contrary, after the turmoil of the balloon incident and the meeting between Speaker Kevin McCarthy of the U.S. House of Representatives with President Tsai Ing-wen, Beijing’s current highest goal for U.S.-China relations is to facilitate Xi’s visit to the United States and the Xi-Biden meeting in November.
Similarly, some of the compromises made by the Biden administration on relations with China are also a crucial reference for Beijing to decide to meet each other halfway. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo have visited China successively. In addition to their talks, Yellen and Raimondo have held discussions with Chinese scholars and American business groups to explain American economic and trade policy to China. The new interpretation of the “de-risking” and “de-decoupling” policies is partially understood by Beijing. At least the two sides are willing to return to competition in the high-tech field and cooperation in economic, trade, and people-to-people exchanges, so as to stabilize the fundamentals of U.S.-China ties.
The more critical factor is that a new tacit understanding between the United States and China regarding the Taiwan Strait is forming. The Biden administration has made a commitment not to support Taiwan’s independence and maintain the one-China policy, but it failed to alleviate China’s concerns. It constantly accused Washington of “emptying out the one-China policy” and questioned American policy of saying one thing to Taiwan and doing another. In the recent meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Malta, although the media revealed that the two sides had a long discussion on Taiwan, the tone of China’s press release had softened.
U.S.-China relations once again face the opportunity of “opening the door and taking the big road.” How to seize the opportunity and turn it into a new driving force for improving bilateral relations ultimately depend on people-to-people exchanges. News shows that in the first quarter of this year, more than 5,000 Chinese students obtained U.S. F-1 student visas, which exceeded the same period before the pandemic. China’s resumption of tourism to the United States and the opening of direct flights between China, the United States, and Canada are conducive to the people-to-people exchanges between both sides out from the shadow of the pandemic. This makes American society feel that China has no intention to challenge or confront America and that China and the United States can compete in a peaceful and healthy manner.
One year remains before the U.S. presidential election. The ups and downs of bilateral relations over the past few years have shown that President Joe Biden is not as moderate as expected, and Trump is not as stubborn as expected. The foundation of China-U.S. relations lies in solid bilateral economic, trade, and people-to-people exchanges. If it can be consolidated, it would not be changed by populist and right-wing politicians. Once the direction of U.S.-China relations turns, it will be a new game for Taiwan, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration’s path to resisting China will become even more difficult.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20230929002734-262102