Respect is key for China-US relations

China-US Relations

Two US diplomats have travelled to Beijing in the latest attempt by the two nations to rebuild bridges made weak by years of disagreements on many issues.

Two senior US diplomats have begun meetings with Chinese officials over a wide range of issues. The Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and White House adviser Jeffrey Bader arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday.

Beijing have made it clear that its own interests cannot be compromised by its relationship with the US, and the US delegates were greeted with calls by China to forgo further sanctions on Iran - a major US foreign policy goal - most likely because of the interest China holds in Iran's oil resources.

Tibet, Taiwan, trade and US-based technology giant Google are just a few of the recent sources of disagreement, but the business value of a peaceful relationships is not lost on either nation so a reconciliation of difference is considered vital.

"More cooperation, and less 'containment'"

"There should be more cooperation, and less 'containment' in Sino-US relations", said Zhao Qizheng (pictured), spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

However Zhaon was slightly less diplomatic with a later statement, comparing the relationship between America and China to that of a car: "It has two drivers. Americans should know this. China also has control over the steering wheel, the accelerator, and the brake. The two drivers must consult with each other to drive the car. Otherwise it will only spin around."

The three-day visit comes ahead of a series of key meetings, including a global nuclear security summit in Washington in April, and the next round of Sino-US "Strategic and Economic Dialogue", which last took place in July 2009.

"If this (visit) suggests that we are refocusing on the future and the important issues that we can work on together, I think we are encouraged by this," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Tuesday.

"This is expressly why we sought this meeting - to be able to refocus on very specific issues, not the least of which is obviously our joint concerns about Iran," Mr Crowley said.

Agreement on North Korea

One issue that both America and China do agree on is North Korea, both agree on the need to bring the rogue state back to the negotiating table over plans to end its nuclear programmes.

Climate change issues are also expected to be discussed after such a poor result from the Copenhagen conference. China said it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 2020 by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels.

"It's voluntary without any supplementary conditions In comparison, some other countries didn't set any targets," said Zhao, adding that it was unfair for some foreign media to point the finger at China after the conference.

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Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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