New Model of Major Country Diplomacy

Chinese leaders’ goal of orientation in respect to Sino-US relations in the 21st century is a new way to deal with conflicts and contradictions between a rising power and conservative established power. According to China's consistent position and statement, the core content of this new type of great power relationship should be “no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation”. The United States also said that it would break the historical vicious cycle of “inevitable confrontation between the rising power and established power” and solve “old problems” with “new answers”. Although the two sides have different understandings and expectations from it, there is already a basic consensus between the two sides:

Sino-US relations in the 21st century must avoid the historical disaster of great power confrontation or zero-sum game but find a new way. During President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States in January 2011, the two heads of state reached a consensus on establishing a cooperative partnership featuring mutual respect and mutual benefit. During Vice Chairman Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States in February 2012, on how to implement the consensus between the heads of state of the two countries, he further proposed building a new type of great power relations that is “unprecedented but is followed by future generations”.

In May 2012, during the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Beijing, the two sides launched the building of a "new type of great power relationship" between China and the United States as the theme of high profile. Since then, a series of Sino-US dialogue and exchange activities have in fact taken the construction of a new type of great power relations as an important content. In June 2013, President Xi Jinping met with President Obama of the United States, and the two sides reached an important consensus on working together to build a new type of major-power relationship between China and the United States.

In November 2014, during President Obama's visit to China, President Xi Jinping proposed to promote the building of a new type of major-power relationship between China and the United States from six key directions. In March 2017, the US Secretary of State, who visited after the change of US government, expressed for the first time the US's recognition of the principles of “no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation” between China and the United States. These 14 words are the core content of the new type of great power relations between China and the United States advocated by the Chinese side.

The development of a new type of great power relationship between China and the United States requires mutual trust, and the world is big enough for China, the United States and other countries to develop together. There is a need for equality and mutual understanding, and both sides must learn to respect each other, be good at grasping “consensus”, enlarge the cake of common interests, correctly treat “differences”, respect and take care of each other’s interests and concerns, and enhance understanding and proper handling of existing differences through dialogue so as not to affect the overall situation of Sino-US relations. Positive actions are needed to implement the consensus reached between the two sides, promote practical cooperation in a wide range of fields, strengthen coordination on international and regional issues, and promote peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large. Let the people of the two countries and the people of all countries earnestly enjoy the benefits of Sino-US cooperation. It is necessary to cultivate friendship, actively promote exchanges between all walks of life of the two countries, let more people become participants and supporters of friendly cooperation between China and the United States, and further enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of China and the United States. Achieving mutually beneficial cooperation is the key to the establishment of a new type of great power relationship between China and the United States.

The strategic goals and concepts of Sino-US diplomacy are very different, but the common interests between the two countries are extensive, and mutually beneficial cooperation of Sino-US relations is the trend of times and the will of peoples.

Mutually beneficial cooperation is based on the common interests of China and the United States, and it is also a necessary driving force and way to accumulate strategic mutual trust between the two countries. Explore the potential of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the United States and the conditions and ways to realize it, and then turn it into policies and specific plans of the two countries, which will help the two countries to take the road of a new type of great power relations between China and the United States in the future. In order to build a new type of great power relationship, there is an urgent need for China and the United States to take action in three areas: to form a new security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region; to break through the bottleneck in the military field to avoid military conflicts; and to seek cooperation in new areas, such as cyber security, global governance, etc.

The United States has always drummed the so-called uncertainty about China's future, and it has not given up the mindset that China as a stronger nation is bound to seek hegemony and would maintain the zero-sum struggle mentality that two strong two powers should confront each other when evaluating China’s future and the Sino-US relations. This old mentality of the United States is prominently reflected in the Asia-Pacific “rebalancing” strategy promoted by the US government. The implementation of this strategy has highlighted the military security factors in the Asia-Pacific region, and may trigger a regional arms race, making the relations between the relevant countries more complicated. There is a long way to go in order to establish a new type of major power relationship between China and the United States.