Author: Jane Golley

Henry Paulson Jr.’s article in the September/October 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs provides a timely and insightful analysis of how strategic economic engagement is strengthening the U.S.-China bilateral relationship. Paulson, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, starts with the premise that engagement is the best path for the next American president to choose in response to China’s emergence as a global power. While recognising that there will inevitably be tensions between the two countries – particularly in the realms of China’s military modernization, its enforcement of intellectual property and its human rights record – Paulson argues that nothing should stand in the way of cooperation, based on mutual understanding, equality and trust. To illustrate, he focuses on the successes of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), launched by President George W. Bush and President Hu Jintao in 2006. As joint leader of the SED (with his Chinese counterpart, Vice-Premier Wang Qishan) Paulson has a wealth of firsthand experience to demonstrate how effective the SED has been in promoting cooperation on a wide range of economic issues, including exchange rate policies, energy security, environmental degradation, trade, investment and foreign aid.

This is music to the ears of the ‘engagement camp’, while those favouring containment instead will be hard pushed to find fault in the logic of his message (although I’m sure that won’t stop them from trying). Paulson closes by hoping that the next U.S. president will expand on the SED and take U.S.-Chinese relations to the next level. If only both presidential candidates and their foreign policy and economic advisors can find the time to read his article, I’d say he has good reason to hope. The future of one of the world’s most important bilateral relationships will look even better if all U.S. Congress men and women can find the time as well.

Related articles:

1. The state of Sino-American relations – Weekly editorial
2. Reason for optimism in Sino-American relations
3. Japan-U.S. ties crucial for East Asia community
4. Stocktake of the Sino-Australia relationship

1. How the DPJ can get Japan growing again
2. The Collapse of India’s Growth Rate
3. Obama’s North Korea challenge

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 7:28 am and is filed under International Relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.