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Time to deliver

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-21 07:47

With the inaugural address delivered, the oath of office taken, time starts now for Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th United States president, to deliver.

The unusual state of the economy may help mitigate unrealistic hopes on immediate changes, though change was what he promised, and change was what brought him to where he is.

At home and abroad, people are trying to figure out what would come first on his to-do list. The ailing economy is in dire need of fixing. But he can expect plenty of patience on that. Nobody anticipates an instant turnaround. But perhaps not on Iraq and Guantanamo.

Curiosity may not be as strong here in Beijing about that list in its entirety. So far the guesswork here concentrates on how President Obama will position ties with China. Given the popular American eagerness for a break from the Bush years, many wonder, or worry to be precise, whether the new president would ignore the hard-earned progress in bilateral ties. After decades of dramatic ups and downs, the once volatile relations are just beginning to show signs of stabilizing.

To many, former president Bush's eight years at the helm of US foreign policies were full of disappointments. The yet-to-be-justified war on Iraq, for one, proves an outstanding discredit to his country and himself. President Obama vowed to put an end to that. Which is correct, and overdue.

Yet let us be fair and honest - the Bush years were not devoid of merits. Anchoring relationship between the world's single superpower and the largest developing country is no easy job. But the Bush administration managed it. The Strategic Economic Dialogue, for instance, has turned out to be an invaluable platform for meaningful high-level communication. Now, people wonder if its fifth session in Beijing early last month was its last.

We hope not. Unless President Obama is after "whatever not Bush".

President Obama has portrayed himself as a pragmatist, and empiricist. Then he should not shut his eyes to the most precious diplomatic legacy of his predecessor.

Sino-US relations have been fragile and vulnerable to politicizing, owing to both Cold-War ideologies and conflicting interests. Judging from his previous words, President Obama may see China as a competitor his country will have to deal with. The next question is how.

Interdependence between the two economies is beyond description. Particularly during this recession. From the financial crisis to regional stability to global warming, they need each other anyway, even if unwillingly. So zero-sum games are simply out of the question.

The good news for Obama is that his predecessor, through eight years in office, has laid a decent foundation for one of the world's most influential relationships.

That is a fine bequest he should generously embrace.

(China Daily 01/21/2009 page8)