In general, the scope of relations between China and the United States is much larger than it was during the Cold War. Their relationship today is a kind of big power relationship that is complicated and mature.

It is interesting to note that each U.S. administration since the end of the Cold War has tended to adjust its policy toward China over time. Bill Clinton attacked the administration of George H.W. Bush for its China policy during his election campaign in 1992. In the early days of his presidency, he linked the human rights issue to China-U.S. trade relations. As this approach proved futile, he first switched to an "engagement policy" and then proposed establishing a "constructive strategic partnership gearing toward the 21st century" during his visit to China in 1998.

In his 2000 campaign, George W. Bush strongly condemned Clinton's policy toward China, asserting that China is a "strategic competitor" of the United States. However, after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, his administration made a positive change in its China policy by laying out the three "Cs"-candid, constructive and cooperative. In September 2005, then Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick described China as a "stakeholder," which is a more pragmatic definition of China's status.

At present, the United States practices a strategy of "hedging engagement" toward China, with engagement being the focus. As China gains comprehensive national power, engagement will increasingly become the only policy option the United States has when dealing with China.

Promising future

While the United States is the sole superpower, China is rapidly rising in the world. The reason for the coexistence of China's rise and U.S. hegemony is that China's development is achieved in an international system led by the United States. China has generally accepted this system, joined it and benefited from it. China's participation has in turn helped strengthen the leading status of the United States.

The China-U.S. relationship is the most important and complicated big power relationship in the 21st century-important because it determines whether international relations in this century will be confrontational or cooperative and complicated because strategic conflicts still haunt the two countries, one being a newly emerging big power and the other an existing big power.

At the same time, the need for bilateral cooperation is growing. China and the United States can work together on antiterrorism, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional hotspot issues such as North Korea, Iran and Kashmir, UN reform, maintaining regional and global financial stability, curbing drug trafficking, checking cross-border crimes, slowing down global climate change, and preventing the spread of SARS, bird flu and other epidemics, to name just a few.

The point is that China-U.S. relations should always be cast in a constructive light. For example, the quest for oil may be both a potential point of contention between the two countries and an opportunity for them to collaborate on developing new sources of energy.

Trade disputes between China and the United States are derived from their expanding and deepening trade relations. Instead of politicizing them, the two countries should seek to resolve them according to international conventions. As the Democrats took control of the U.S. Congress after the 2006 mid-term elections, it has yet to be observed to what extent U.S. trade protectionism will affect China-U.S. relations.

Although the China-U.S. relationship will not be free from trouble in the coming years, we are confident about its long-term development. Globalization, which makes countries more interdependent, has increased the costs of confrontational policies. Its uncertainties and problems, the threat of terrorism in particular, call for strengthened cooperation between different countries. The existing international organizations and regimes provide a multilateral platform for resolving conflicts.

Over the past 35 years, China and the United States have put in place fairly efficient communication and crisis management mechanisms. Also, it is a consistent policy of the Chinese Government to forge a constructive partnership with the United States. As China's power continues to grow, the overall stability of China-U.S. relations is set to be enhanced.