Satoshi Ogawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
WASHINGTON--The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to launch a new comprehensive strategic dialogue with China that includes high-level discussions on political, economic and security issues, it was learned Sunday.
"We believe that comprehensive bilateral exchanges at the senior-most levels are vital to the creation of a more positive, cooperative relationship between the U.S. and China," a ranking State Department official told The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Several sources familiar with the matter said previous ministerial-level and lower-level discussions had been unable to bring about political decisions on the Chinese side. The Obama administration would like to upgrade the bilateral discussions to periodic dialogues through mutual visits by Vice President Joe Biden and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the sources said.
The new strategic dialogue is aimed at qualitatively changing the focus of U.S.-China relations from economic matters to a more diverse range of issues, a U.S. diplomatic source said. As such, the new dialogue is expected to include military matters.
Two types of "high-level" bilateral dialogues had started under the previous administration of George W. Bush: a ministerial-level strategic economic dialogue (SED) led by then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and periodic senior official-level talks involving the deputy U.S. secretary of state and a vice foreign minister of China.
However, the Obama transition team decided to sweep a broom through Washington's China policy during the course of reviewing the strategy, a Democratic Party diplomatic affairs official said.
Past U.S.-China dialogues have not produced satisfactory results and thus a dialogue is needed with higher ranking Chinese officials who have the authority to make a wide range of political decisions, the official said.
During the administration of Bill Clinton, the then U.S. president visited China and regular talks were held between the U.S. vice president and the Russian prime minister. Obama's diplomatic team apparently was keen to replicate this strategy and had been toying with the idea of upgrading China dialogues from the start of the presidential election campaign.
A regular Biden-Wen dialogue is now quite likely, sources said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hinted during at a press conference last Tuesday that change was needed in the U.S. approach.
"We need a comprehensive dialogue with China," she said. "The strategic dialogue that was begun in the Bush administration turned into an economic dialogue."
In forging a more comprehensive approach, Clinton added, she will work with her colleagues in the White House, Treasury Department and elsewhere in the government.
However, Michael Green, former senior director for Asian affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, has warned that the establishment of a strategic dialogue between the U.S. vice president and the Chinese premier could unsettle some of Washington's allies.
"It creates the image of a bipolar condominium in Asia, which will be deeply unsettling for Japan, [South] Korea, Australia, India and other democratic allies and partners," Green said.
(Feb. 2, 2009)
Posts
