Sino-US reconciliation essential for global interests

Since the establishment of the diplomatic ties between China and the US in 1972, both the countries have constantly deepened the ties on all fronts. Though there were always some differences between them, they have steadily been the largest trading and strategic partners and continued reaping dividends from the good relations till Donald Trump became the US President in 2016.

During the Trump era, the US administration has unilaterally started decoupling with China. In the name of the trade-war, the Trump regime has tried to hamstring the growth of the Chinese economy. The US has spared no efforts to strangle the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by initiating the Indo-Pacific Strategy.

A number of dignitaries of the US has ramped up anti-China rhetoric and blamed China for the pandemic. They have made the Communist Party of China (CPC), Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Taiwan, and the South China Sea regular targets of smearing China. Thus the Sino-US relations have touched the lowest point since after 1972.

Against such a backdrop, President Joe Biden has assumed the power and concentrated on licking the wounds of the bilateral ties. In doing so, Biden has first held long telephonic talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and reached consensus to get the ties back on the right track. And both the sides have declared to have a high level strategic dialogue, giving rise to a sense of relief to many.

The much-sought-after China-US high-level strategic dialogue concluded at Anchorage in Alaska on Sunday. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had a long strategic communication in the dialogue.

They had discussions to implement the consensus reached by the two presidents in their telephonic conversations in February. The world has an eye on the just-concluded dialogue as their reconciliation really matters many of global interests including peace, prosperity, fighting the pandemic, and international relations.

People have heaved a sigh of relief seeing the two major powers have come aboard to reduce their tensions through dialogue. The Chinese and the Americans now want cooperation instead of confrontation between the two countries. But the dialogue has ended up in announcing no tangible and concrete outcomes.

Analysts are of the view that it has produced nothing but words, and some are saying that it was much ado about nothing. Many are blaming the US condescending tendency for its failure to produce visible results. But I would like to be optimistic and consider it a good start for a thaw in relations between the US and China.

China has termed the dialogue as candid, constructive, and helpful for reconciliation between the two major economies of the world. It has said that both the sides have had candid and constructive exchanges on their domestic and foreign policies and bilateral relations. In my eyes, they have at least reached unofficial conclusion that the dialogue is helpful and conducive to enhancing mutual understanding.

Analysts believe that there is no alternative to reconciliation of China and the US as it is linked to many interests of the whole world besides their own benefits. The world is now in severe crisis than ever before. The coronavirus pandemic has caused grave health and economic catastrophe at almost every corner of the planet.

However, I think that with their resources, experiences, state-of-the-art technologies, and highly developed medicine and skilled medical professionals, the US and China can easily defeat the virus and save humankind, if they join hands.

Due to the pandemic, no major economy but China could maintain its economic growth last year. Every country's economy has suffered a huge loss, resulting in the slump down of global economy. The Sino-US cooperation can contribute to the recovery of the losses and turnaround of the economy. In this case, China can inject impetus and confidence into the global economy, especially that of developing countries. The US also has many things to do as the largest economy of the world.

For the sake of saving humanity from more bloodshed in different regions, they must come together as both have strong diplomatic ties with maximum number of countries. They can jointly exploit their leverages on conflicting parties to put an end to wars. They can also make the warring sides to leave arms through using the United Nations Security Council as both are permanent members of the council.

Nobody can deny that there are some obvious differences between China and the US. But everybody must agree that the differences can create no barrier to forge ahead their cooperation, if the countries have genuine wills and commitments.

Without a shred of doubt, I could say that the Sino-US reconciliation is essential to saving human kind from the curse of the virus, turning around economy, and bringing about peace on earth. If they continue walking to the path of confrontation instead of cooperation, any idiot can see that they will be the ultimate losers and have to pay through the nose in the long run.

Md Enamul Hassan is a news editor and broadcast journalist at China Media Group (CMG), in Beijing, China.