U.S Sino relations

Arguably, U.S.-Sino relations are the most important bilateral relationship in the world.227 The Director of the East-West Centre, in Washington, DC, Satu Limaye

pinpointed the strategic importance of China to the U.S. as reflected in that all governmental directories tend to be involved in any dealings with the Chinese government.228 The ‘rise of China’ (whatever that might mean to different policy-

224 _{See Jenkins 2002, ibid. 41.} 225 _{See Jenkins 2002, ibid. 85.}

226 _{J.G. Bruhn & H.M. Rebach 2007, “Problem Solving at the Mesolevel,” op.cit.}

227 _{A.I. Johnston & R.S. Ross (eds.), Engaging China: the management of an emerging power (London:} Routledge, 1999); Z. Zhu, US-China Relations in the 21st Century, Power Transition and Peace (Routledge: London, 2006).

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researchers and their analyses and judgements), as a phenomenon and concept, reflects unprecedented prospects of a power-shift with the U.S. hegemony as well as a global shift between the West and East. It has become one of the dominant areas for discussion in the public domain229 and scholarly IR research230 – in particularly

in regard to international security.231 The two countries are deeply and intensely

engaged with each other across a vast range of policy-areas and exceedingly interdependent. These gargantuan complexities are reflected in the very diverse research being conducted and numerous events on China on offer at DC think tanks. Moreover, the nature and direction, as perceived, more than any other contextual factor arguably have an impact on the manoeuvrability in research and work- activities for policy-researchers as well as in their potential ability to defining the topical agenda.

229 _{See for example the German Marshall Fund of the United States report Global Shift – How the West Should}

Respond to the Rise of Asia (June 15, 2011). Electronic version available: http://www.transatlanticacademy.org/publications/global-shift-capstone-report-released; U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission 2011 Report to Congress (Nov 2011, Available: http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2011/annual_report_full_11.pdf.; P.I. Levy & M. Busch 2010, “The Case

against a China Currency Case,” The American (7 Oct 2010, Available:

http://www.american.com/archive/2010/october/the-case-against-a-china-currency-case. B. Garrett, “Thinking Outside the Bilateral Box: Global Challenges and the China-U.S. Relationship,” New Atlanticist: Policy ad Analysis Blog (2011), Available: http://www.acus.org/trackback/46929 (29 Aug 2011); C.F. Bergsten, B. Gill, N.R. Lardy & D.J. Mitchell, “The Balance Sheet: China – What the World needs to know now about the emerging superpower,” Center for Strategic and International Studies / Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics (New York: Public Affairs, 2006); K. Gorden, S. Lyon, E. Paisley & S. Pool, “Rising to the Challenge A Progressive U.S. Approach to China’s Innovation and Competitiveness Policies”, Science Progress (2011), Available: http://scienceprogress.org/2011/01/rising-to-the-challenge/; K.G. Lieberthal, Managing the China Challenge: How to Achieve Corporate Success in the People's Republic (Brookings Institution Press, 2011).

230 _{Ramon Pacheco-Pardo, “Review article - Beyond Power Transition: Sino-American Relations in the 21st} Century,” op.cit.

231 _{A. Friedberg, “Ripe for rivalry: prospects for peace in multipolar Asia,” International Security 18(3) (1993): 5-} 33; A. Goldstein, “Great Expectations: interpreting China’s arrival,” International Security 22(3) (1997): 36-57; T. Luard, “China takes place on world stage” (2004).

Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3763370.stm; G. Segal, Does China Matter?,” Foreign Affairs 78(5) (1999): 24-36; D. Shambaugh, “China’s military views the world: ambivalent security,” International Security 24(3) (1999): 52-79; D. Roy, “Restructuring foreign and defence policy: the People’s Republic of China,” in Asia-Pacific in the new world disorder, eds. A. McGrew & C. Brook (Bath: Routledge, 1998),137-157.

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By drawing upon secondary literature – in addition to surveying research and policy profiles of China policy-research experts in U.S. think tanks – I shall highlight examples of the array of issues which they frequently engage with.232 For example,

in the financial sphere, in a Congressional hearing (15 Sep 2011), Bergsten of the Peterson Institute elucidated the overshadowing issue of China undervaluing its Renminbi artificially low through intense intervention in the foreign exchange markets. Subsequently, this augments its international competitive strength as well as the trade surplus.233 However, think tanks are not in unison when it comes to the

implications for the American job market.234 In the economic realm, Nathaniel

Ahrens states in a Carnegie paper that “Indigenous innovation has become the greatest immediate source of economic friction between the United States and China”.235 This signifies Chinese stimulating domestic innovation in their procurement preferences in a protectionist fashion in order to excel upwards in the industrial value-chain.236 It is of concern at the state-to-state level, being one of the key issues on the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue talks in May of 2010.237 In terms of security issues, there are several areas which prevail within

232 _{Such a list can by no means be exhausting. Furthermore, presenting them as categories relates mostly to} depicting main areas but without implying that the boundaries of this categorisation are fixed or that the issues do not traverse several of them. Finally, this brief highlight of focus-areas relate predominantly to policy-researchers within think tanks and not the academe. I am also deliberately not dwelling into a discussion of what tend not to be focused on (normatively) in their policy-research, as this will be addressed in the analysis chapters.

233 _{Correcting the Chinese Exchange Rate (Congressional Testimony). Available:} http://www.iie.com/publications/testimony/bergsten20100915.pdf, 1, 3-4.

234 _{See for example Adam Hersh of the Center of American Progress, “China’s Currency Problem Isn’t the Only} Problem The United States Needs to Invest to Remain Globally Competitive,” Available: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/10/china_currency.html.

235 _{25% of respondents in a survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce reported that this hurt} their business (The American Chamber of Commerce, People’s Republic of China, China’s Business Climate

Survey, 2011, March 19, 2011. Available:

http://www.amchamchina.org/upload/cmsfile/2011/03/22/efb2ab9d3806269fc343f640cb33baf9.pdf.

236 _{Nathaniel Ahrens (July 2010), ‘Innovation and the Visible Hand: China, Indigenous Innovation, and the Role} of Government Procurement’, Available: http://carnegieendowment.org/2010/07/07/innovation-and-visible-hand- china-indigenous-innovation-and-role-of-government-procurement/jd.

237 _{Dieter Ernst, “A Smart Response to China’s ‘Indigenous Innovation’ Policies,” (May 21, 2010), Available:} http://www.eastwestcenter.org/news-center/east-west-wire/a-smart-response-to-chinas-indigenous-innovation- policies.

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policy-communities and public discourses. This includes, for example, the meaning of the expansion and modernisation of the Chinese military,238 China’s intentions

and behaviour in Mainland-Taiwan relations as well as the South-China Sea,239 and

cyber-security.240 Prominently on the agenda, are also technology and energy

issues,241 environmental concerns,242 and human rights issues and democracy.243

Having touched very briefly on some of the key issues in U.S.-Sino relations (and a very limited list of sources – predominantly published by my interviewees in the field), such surroundings also play an evident role in the U.S. domestic political debate – often heatedly debated within think tanks as well as policy-communities more broadly. This relates to sensitive and politicised debates evolving in the U.S. – for example if America is declining – linked with U.S. soft power and its humongous

238 _{K. Crane, R. Cliff, E.S. Medeiros, J.C. Mulvenon & W.H. Overholt, Modernizing China’s Military: Opportunities}

and Constraints (RAND Corporation, 2005). Available: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG260-1.pdf.; J. Dobbins, D.C. Gompert, D.A. Shlapak & A. Scobell, Conflict with China: Prospects, Consequences, and Strategies for Deterrence, RAND

Corporation 2011). Available:

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2011/RAND_OP344.sum.pdf.; D. Blumenthal & M. Mazza, “A One-Sided Arms Race: China’s military ambitions are boundless,” The Weekly Standard, January 24, 2011; P.W. Singer, “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Chinese Aircraft Carrier?” The Washington Examiner, July 28, 2009; S. Chen & J. Feffer, “China’s Military Spending: Soft Rise or Hard Threat?” Asian Perspectives 33(4) (2009): 47-67; J. Logan, “F-16 Deal Is an Emblem of Larger Problem,” China-US Focus, October 8, 2011. 239 _{A.D. Romberg, “Cross-Strait Relations: Setting the Stage for 2012,” China Leadership Monitor 34 (2011); D.} Roy, “Taiwan Strait Thaw Likely Not Permanent,” The Honolulu Advertiser November 8, 2009; W. Lohman, “Defrost the U.S.–Taiwan Relationship,” WebMemo, The Heritage Foundation, March 1, 2011; B.S. Glaser, “Tensions Flare in the South China Sea,” South China Sea Papers (2011), Available: http://csis.org/publication/tensions-flare-south-china-sea; S. Cropsey, “Anchors Away: American Sea Power in Dry Dock,” World Affairs January/February, 2011.

240 _{“China and Cyber Security,” Event, April 28, 2010, The Heritage Foundation, Available:} http://www.heritage.org/events/2010/04/china-and-cybersecurity?query=China+and+Cyber+Security.

241 _{K.J. Tu, “A Warning for China’s Nuclear Sector,” China Dialogue, August 10, 2011.}

242 _{J.L. Turner, “Small Government, Big (Green?) Society: Emerging Partnerships to Solve China's} Environmental Problems,” Harvard Asian Quarterly (2004) and “Cultivating Environmental NGO-Business Partnerships in China,” China Business Review, November, 2003; X. Tan, “Clean technology R&D and innovation in emerging countries—Experience from China,” Energy Policy 38(6) (2010): 2916-2926.

243 _{L.C. Greve, Democratic China and the Future of Tibet, Conference, 2011, Available:} http://www.ned.org/about/staff/louisa-greve/democratic-development-in-the-tibetan-exile-community-progress- opportunity- (9 Jul).

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budget deficit,244 the plausibility of job losses to China which became a mantra in the

last mid-term election, in addition to Chinese direct foreign investment into the U.S.245