Hope for 2010 - China-America Lets Make A Deal

Legacy Situation

The September-October 2005 Article in Foreign Affairs seems ancient as we approach 2010.

Improving the American and Chinese relationship is a rich bastion of actionable potential for improving the world.  Here is some reasoning for this.

China is already tapping the copper in Afghanistan, and next to gold, copper is very precious. China had a plan to run a pipeline from Iraq to China via Afghanistan, and that was disrupted by the Iraq-American War. China needs the pipeline to fuel its expanding growth. China owns a boatload of America on paper.

America remains a top market for China’s exports. America needs to keep the petroleum sources stable too. America wants more access to the burgeoning Chinese market. Both want freer trade and both recognize the need for a greener approach to industrial development.

America wants to reduce nuclear proliferation and wants China’s support. America wants to eliminate nuclear weapons development in Iran. America wants to neutralize the threat from the Republic of North Korea. America seeks China’s help in addressing these trouble spots. America would like more cooperation from China in resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict, again to stabilize the Middle East.

India and Pakistan conflict poses a threat to the region and the world with China being a neighbor. A nuclear conflict there would inflict fallout casualties in China, among other places. America and China can help prevent this.

America promotes individual freedom and democracy, and wants China to improve in this area. China thinks it’s not America’s business to address this in their country or any other.

It would be advantageous for America to reduce its military footprint and associated costs throughout the world such as Korea and Asia. Japan would like this too.

Against this backdrop, the world is well aware that attraction to the Middle East is all about the oil. When developed nations have a substitute, and it is certain they will soon, interest in the Middle East will evaporate like water from the desert. Leaders in the global economy will continue to compete for scarce natural resources, like copper, for instance. Balance of power will shift to tussling over these precious materials.

In the near terms, America and China can find common ground to advance their progress.

America will help the Chinese by securing the pipeline from Iraq through Afghanistan to China. That will be a reason for improving conditions in Afghanistan that China can support. America’s role is then, world police organization (WPO).

China will help America on a host of fronts: Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine-Israel, Republic of North Korea, and Russia (the heretofore unmentioned)

America will stand down in Asia in exchange for greater trade with China and military cooperation reciprocity.

Natural things will occur that will further advance progress, like the death and or replacement of obstinate leaders, i.e., Kim Il Sung and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I did not address the economic crisis about which America continues to be concerned as solutions and improvement are slow coming. Remember last summer?

[q url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/204229]

“China is not happy. That's the title of the bestselling book in China. The five nationalist authors say it is time for China to ‘split from the West,’ particularly the United States and the Treasury bonds that Beijing holds to the tune of $1 trillion. This desire for greater distance from America is growing: in a May poll conducted by China's Global Times, 87 percent said they were against buying more U.S. debt. Shortly before U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrived in Beijing in early June, a survey of leading Chinese economists showed that 17 of 23 think U.S. bonds are ‘risky,’ that U.S. stocks pose a potential threat to the Chinese economy, and that the Chinese government should diversify its assets away from U.S. markets and toward energy and mineral resources. When Geithner assured a group at Beijing University that American bonds are a ‘safe’ investment, they erupted in loud laughter—a rare outbreak of rudeness from an elite crowd in China.'  Zachary Karabell, China’s Independence Fantasy| NEWSWEEK Published Jun 27, 2009."

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Well, all laughter and rudeness aside, 2010 is a new year and conditions on the ground have changed dramatically, giving hope for the prospect of improvement.