By Rikki N. Massand and Gazelle Emami (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-22 07:29

A few American scholars highlighted the importance of the US and China working together despite the current pessimism about what the future holds for the two nations.

A boycott of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing by the US President George W. Bush would be foolish and counterproductive for the US, which is already seeing economic trouble, according to Norman, J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.

He was speaking via live webcast from Washington DC, during the second annual China Town Halls, a program sponsored by the National Committee on United States-China Relations, in cooperation with local groups and colleges, such as the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Ornstein elaborated on what that means for America and its dealings with China, explaining the state that he perceives the American public to be in.

"Americans are bitter; 81 percent say the country is headed on the wrong track. What role America will play in the world and how that relates to our allies, adversaries and those who fall somewhere in between will be determined," Ornstein said.

Speakers in several venues remarked that the mainstream US media has shown some bias in its China coverage, which has contributed to negative public opinions.

"It takes time for the US to adapt to China's unprecedented growth, " said Barry Naughton, Professor of Chinese and International Affairs at the University of California at San Diego, from New York.

As for outlining China's relationship to the US, the discussion centered upon the fact that each of the three leading candidates has held back from making anti-China or anti-trade comments. "Once you become president you look at national interest differently," Ornstein said.

Naughton reiterated Ornstein's point on China's global image, saying that,China's overall impact on Africa has been positive.

In the Philadelphia session, Adam Siegal, Senior Fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, lectured on the many positives he sees in Sino-US relations, which, he said, is aided by the mirror policies that each nation adopted on the other.

Siegal suggested that the incoming presidential administration re-balance the relationship in four ways, assuming that a new president and a secretary of state would travel to China more often than Bush has.

In addition to trade, Siegal said China's role as a responsible stakeholder in the global economy and the US' engagement with regional players in Asia are key to future strategies.

To highlight the importance of this discussion and the issues that have to be addressed, Siegal used the analogy of "the US and China having their hands around each other's necks and both going over the waterfall".

(China Daily 04/22/2008 page9)