The United States and China need to overcome mutual misunderstandings. by Wesley Clark

[elleng]

President Obama’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping should mark the United States’ true “pivot” to Asia — and it can’t come soon enough. China is more powerful than many Americans realize, and it is on a trajectory to become even more capable. At the same time, the Chinese may underestimate or misread us. Absent deeper understandings and greater cooperation, that’s a potentially dangerous combination.

I first went to China in 1983, on one of the first official U.S. military visits. In those days, China sought to use the United States as a counterbalance to the threat from the Soviet Union. Traveling to China regularly over the past decade for banking business, I have met top officials and visited enterprises. Unfailingly, I have been welcomed, treated with respect and listened to. . .

In Xi, who is both president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, the Chinese have a leader who seems comfortable handling the country’s political and economic development as well as its rapidly growing military capabilities. Those include stealth and drone technology; global positioning, anti-missile and anti-satellite capabilities; nuclear missiles; a growing naval capability aimed at the United States; and power-projection forces challenging its Asian neighbors.

It is clear from top-level Chinese diplomatic visits to India and Pakistan this spring and China’s challenges in the South China Sea and near Japan that this generation of leaders will be more assertive. We should listen when they ask why the United States is trying to “contain” China or sends its airplanes to “provoke” Chinese radar. We should take note, too, when Chinese citizens ask why we “like” the Vietnamese and Japanese more than them. In a communist state where the media are controlled, opinions usually start at the top. These are the rumblings that presage a significant challenge.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-united-states-and-china-need-to-overcome-mutual-misunderstandings/2013/06/06/9e91e274-ceb6-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[bluedeathray]

2. What happens when one Imperialist power recedes

And another emerges.

I believe the Chinese understand America quite a bit more than we understand them. And because of the state of American "News" outlets, the citizens willing to do their own research on China won't be enough to significantly change that situation.

Americas "house of cards" economic policy has our GDP more established on making money with money, rather than goods production. Even the services industry which contributes mightily to those numbers can't overcome the financiers and manipulators that dominate the wealth production of our nation.

This, and the declining availability of resources, can't bode well for the future of America's Imperialist expansion.

[Franker65]

3. Wesley Clark makes a good point

The two countries certainly have a lot to learn about each other and considering the trading relationship and air of mutual dependence between both countries, work needs to be done. Statistics show Americans view China more and more as their country's greatest enemy. Which is unnecessary in my opinion. Both countries need to work together and improve each other's image in the eyes of their citizens.