Sat, Dec 10, 2022 page1

• China wants stable US ties as assertive posture draws flak

  • Reuters, WASHINGTON
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  China wants stabilized relations with the US in the short term, as it faces domestic economic challenges and a pushback in Asia to its assertive diplomacy, US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Thursday.

  Frustrations over China’s strict COVID-19 protocols last month boiled over into widespread protests, marking the biggest show of public discontent since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took office in 2012.

  The rules contributed to a slowing economy, but the recent easing of restrictions have also created fresh concern that COVID-19 could soon run wild in the country.

  

  Then-US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Kurt Campbell speaks at a news conference at the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 13, 2012.

  Photo: AP

  Campbell said those issues, coupled with China having antagonized many of its neighbors, meant it was interested in more predictable ties with Washington in the “short term.”

  “They’ve taken on and challenged many countries simultaneously,” Campbell told an Aspen Security Forum event in Washington, mentioning China’s territorial disputes with Japan and India. “I think they recognize that that has, in many respects, backfired.”

  “All of that suggests to me that the last thing the Chinese need right now is an openly hostile relationship with the United States. They want a degree of predictability and stability, and we seek that as well,” Campbell said.

  In the next several months, the world would see “a resumption of some of the more practical, predictable elements of great-power diplomacy” between Washington and Beijing, Campbell said.

  “I think we’re going to see some developments that I believe will be reassuring to the region as a whole,” he said.

  Campbell’s remarks came after the first face-to-face meeting as leaders between Xi and US President Joe Biden in the middle of last month, and two days after Washington announced plans to step up its rotational military presence in key regional ally Australia amid shared concerns about China.

  Campbell said the war in Ukraine led to more behind-the-scenes discussions in the Indo-Pacific region about maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait.

  “If there were a challenge, it would have terrible consequences, strategically, commercially, and that is in no one’s interests,” he said. “I think every country understands the delicacy here.”

  Campbell added that US diplomatic, intelligence and military capacity in the region is limited.

  “Building that is no small feat. It’s going to take a substantial period of time,” he said.

  Australian Ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos told another Aspen panel that Japan would also be more involved in future military force posture initiatives in northern Australia.

  Australia, the UK and the US last year reached a security agreement known as AUKUS, which would provide Australia with the technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines, a deal their defense ministers discussed in Washington this week.

  British Ambassador to the US Karen Pierce told the Aspen forum that there was a risk of miscalculation and misunderstanding with China “because we don’t have quite as many mechanisms as I think we need to be able to deal with whatever might come out of Chinese activity.”

  “If you compare that to what we had with the Soviet Union in the Cold War, I think you can see there’s a deficit there,” she said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Japanese shuttler Shida blasts Chinese stalkers

  • 2

    Two dead as fans, police clash before game in Chile

  • 3

    NSB reports on CCP propaganda

  • 4

    CCP increasing drills, infiltration: NSB

  • 5

    Taiwan to use fund to help stock market