Page in U.S.-China Relations Turning Toward Peace

Don't expect President Obama and Chinese Premier Hu Jintao to publicly bump heads over a beer and work everything out this weekend. The private meetings actually taking place are looking to be much more productive insofar as U.S.-China relations are concerned. And because of them, a page seems to be turning in this chapter of the workings (and not) of what may arguably be the most influential international relationship of the 21st century, other than with India.

While President Obama is pushing health care reform with reactions like if it was some kind of disease, while Vice President Biden is in Israel witnessing the greatest diplomatic flap in recent memory regarding new settlements, and while Secretary of State Clinton is who knows where doing who knows what, their underlings are quietly preparing the way for U.S.-China relations to move forward, peacefully and constructively.  The whole diplomatic operation is textbook down-low Chinese, as opposed to headline-grabbing American, foreign affairs.

But when it comes to the matters being discussed, the two sides seem to be in sync, if not in balance, an amazing and highly hopeful state of affairs considering their relative positions in the world are at stake.

Among the key issues for which the grounds are currently being laid are:

Resuming Six-Party Talks with North Korea: North and South Korea, China, the U.S., Russia and Japan have been holding intermittent talks about North Korea's nuclear ambitions for years, though these stalled during the Bush Administration. Both China and the U.S., under the Obama administration, agree that this is the best way to proceed on the issue, with rumors of North Korean officials coming to Washington as early as next month to restart them.

Reducing Google and other Trade-Related Tensions: Just today, China issued a warning to Google, asserting that the U.S. Internet giant "will have to bear the consequences" if its follows through on its pledge to stop censoring its Chinese search site. For months, if not years now, countries worldwide have urged China to stop fixing its currency, keeping its export prices unbeatably low. The U.S. and China seem to agree on how to deal with the first but not the second issue, which will push the rest into question if it remains unresolved.

The U.S. (and Chinese?) Debt Problem: The one issue no one is talking about but is almost certainly on the U.S.-China agenda is the ballooning national debt of the U.S., with China being by far the biggest lender. Some analysts say that China is heading for a similarly dismal situation. Worse case scenario planning is probably underway, being that the U.S. defaults and China has to find other means of recuperating its debts. For the sake of the world, hopefully not by military means, as the Allies did with defeated Germany after World War One. Let's hope the negotiators have the know-how.

Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and White House adviser Jeffrey Bader spent most of last week in Beijing meeting with their counterparts. Didn’t hear about it? You're not alone. North America's mass news media are probably waiting for the next round of the Sino-U.S. "Strategic and Economic Dialogue," which began in June of last year, where the celebrities and slogans will be. Or maybe they're waiting for the global nuclear summit in Washington in April, for the same reasons.

Fortunately, as we all know, celebrities and slogans can popularize moves toward peace, but at this level peacemaking or peacekeeping is best left to professionals, and they seem to be doing their jobs well ... so far.

Photo credit: Tony Crider