The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

States of China’s loosely-defined core interests, are
only empty words.
The conflict on the core interests continued to trouble
China and the United States. The two nations had
to address this issue again in the 3rd U.S.-China Strategic
& Economic Dialogue in May 2011. This time,
Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo had something
positive to report:
The United States reaffirmed (again) the following
positions: the United States 1) welcomes a strong and
successful China to play a bigger role in international
affairs; 2) respects China’s core interests; 3) has no intention
to contain China; and 4) no intention to stir up
trouble inside China. In return, China reaffirmed its
adherence to the peaceful development approach and
its promise not to challenge the United States. 215
In less than 10 years after their first goodwill exchange
(China’s peaceful development initiative and
the U.S. responsible stakeholder call discussed earlier),
China and the United States came to reassure each
other again on the essential issues in the two nations’
relations and the power transition process.
As the power transition unfolds, there will be new
conflicts. China and the United States need to reassure
each other time and again. In the meantime, the
two sides need to have a better understanding of what
they should or should not do regarding each other’s
core interests so as to avoid unnecessary conflicts.
On the East and Southeast Asia Regional Order. U.S.
core interests are preservation of U.S.-led regional
security, economic prosperity, and pursuance of democracy
(for U.S. domestic affairs, it is the “Blessings
of Liberty“ as stated in the U.S. Constitution). The
rise of China has caused the United States to wonder:
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