Dr. Upendra Gautam

This time of the 21st century has become an era of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA). China has joined the USA through the highways of multiple communication, technology and trade. I do not think the spiritually sober, peace and science loving community in both the countries substantially differ with each other on how they should be get engaged, progress and share together along with the world at large on responsibly maintaining and managing a fair relation at all levels between them.
The political statements made across the Pacific on the PRC-US relations and media angle given to them do not portray these relations neither optimistically nor fairly. Why is so?

Strategic dialogue
Nerves of any communication governance - international, national or local - are the net and the message. Both the common sense knowledge and scientific knowledge perfectly agree on one convergence: knowledge imparts on us what to say. Now it is on skill and technology part how to say. While the attitude part determines how much to say, wisdom will dictate whether to say and when to say.
The case story in point is the high-level strategic Alaska talks on March 18 -19 of 2021 between the PRC and the USA. The talks engaged Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on the US side and Director of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Yang Jiechi, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on China side. It was the first high-level contact between the two countries after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden had a phone call on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, and the first face-to-face talks between high-level officials of the two sides since President Biden took office in January. The Chinese delegation travelled to freezing Alaska at the invitation of the US.
Blinken gave opening statement in private before the talks. He said, “We'll also discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States and economic coercion toward our allies. Each of these actions threatens the rules-based order that maintains global stability. Though Blinken had said, “we will also discuss…actions by China,” his opening statement seemed to have unwantedly set a tone that was predominantly negative towards China. The US crossed a line of eastern culture of welcoming the guests in the fanned cold wave of “America First” diplomacy. No sane person in Nepal in this century of greater inter-dependence and connectivity believe that the PRC and the USA are enemy countries.
Anticipatedly, too simple and too intruding opening remarks of Blinken made the Yang Jiechi’s response to directly bring the fundamental of a fair relation between the two countries. He said, “The US was not qualified to "speak from a position of strength" when criticising China adding Washington’s use of its military might and financial supremacy to suppress other countries on the pretext of “so-called notions of national security to obstruct normal trade exchanges, and incite some countries to attack China." He said that human rights in the US were at a low point.
Chinese side noted that socialism with Chinese characteristics is the system that best fits China's conditions and it is the secret to China's development. The governing status of the CPC and the security of China's socialist system should not be damaged, and that is a red line which should never be crossed, stressed the Chinese delegation. In this context, one may note that in the first 50 years of this century, China is on the path of realising the two-centenary goals of all rounded human development in an advanced Chinese society and 100th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. Sullivan’s response to Yang was “Washington did not seek a conflict with China. We will always stand up for our principles…”

Not in blind alley
There are people in the world who would wish US-PRC relations to get into a blind alley. My work experience in China informs me situation cannot be like that. During the multinational team work in the Yangtze River basin Provinces, Xingjian Tarim River Basin, which engaged several American consultant colleagues as well, I was impressed by the understanding and insights of these colleagues. During informal talks between us, they were clear on three points: first, PRC and Chinese society are both resilient and practical; second, they cannot be coerced; and third, a sense of history, a sense of struggle and a sense of humour keeps China on a path of rejuvenation having been mutually respectful to a red line.
In Nepal, the birthplace of the Gautam Buddha, we positively call the red line the Principle of Peaceful Co-existence. Further, my study visits to China’s autonomous regions tell me that Han people deeply share the spiritual values and valour of Tibetan, Yuieger and Mongolian people. We find numerous Muslim communities in China’s interior province such as Henan. We find autonomous prefectures of Tibetans in Sichuan, Yunnan and Mongolian’s in Xingjian.
Under the Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, USA-PRC relations await new era of a genuine opening up. After the talks, a US official said the subsequent talks after the opening behind closed doors had been "substantive, serious and direct" and ran over the planned hours.
For the Chinese side, the Alaska talks were candid, in-depth, long-term and constructive communication on their respective domestic and foreign policies, China-US relations and major international and regional issues of common concerns.
The two Presidents took the purposeful initiative for the high level Alaska talks. Their administrations have managed to take the most challenging first step on moving towards a goal over the horizon where balancing multilateral developments in peace-building, technology-harmonisation and commercial benefit sharing are most critical factors.

(Dr. Gautam is general secretary of China Study Centre Nepal)