Inside China's Grand Strategy: The Perspective from the People's Republic

3. Relations with the United States: China’s Strategic Choices

3 Relations with the United States China’s Strategic Choices Significance of Sino-U.S. Relations After the Cold War, the United States became the world’s sole superpower. Therefore, the Sino-U.S. relationship became the most important one in China’s foreign relations and, arguably, the most important bilateral relationship in the world. The United States is important to China for three reasons. First, as the largest developing country, China needs a peaceful environment. The United States is currently the only country that has strategic conflicts with it. It is also the only country with the ability to launch a large-scale war. Second, the Sino-U.S. relationship has strategic significance with regard to China’s modernization. The United States is an irreplaceable source of markets, capital, and technology. Third, the United States is the only world power that is deeply involved in the Taiwan issue. Consequently, the Sino-U.S. relationship directly influences China’s ability to maintain its national unity. Ever since the era of Mao Zedong, China has given priority to establishing and maintaining normal relations with the United States. For China, it is a comprehensive strategic issue. In addition to China’s status as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States has several reasons for viewing its relationship with China as of strategic importance. First, although its military will not be competitive with that of the United States for at least 92 INSIDE CHINA’S GRAND STRATEGY fifteen to twenty years, China is one of a few countries possessing nuclear and missile technology. It has the potential to pose a nuclear threat to the United States, and it plays an important role in maintaining the nuclear nonproliferation regime and limiting the proliferation of missile technology . Second, as an influential East Asian power, China shares with the United States a common interest in maintaining peace and stability in the region. Third, as the largest and fastest-growing developing country, it plays an important role in the solution of such global issues as the environment , illegal drugs, smuggling, immigration, and energy. Fourth, after 9/11, the United States and China found a new point of common interest, namely, combating international terrorism. In general, however, the Sino-U.S. relationship looms larger in China ’s foreign policy than it does in U.S. foreign policy. This is due to the difference between the two nations’ comprehensive national power. China’s GNP is only one-ninth that of the United States, its military expenditure only one-twentieth, and its per capita income only one-fortieth, and its soft power, including scientific innovation and management systems, is far behind as well. Even though China’s rate of growth is very high, in recent years the United States has also developed rapidly, with the result that the gap between the two countries in terms of overall comprehensive power has widened rather than narrowed. For instance, in 1980, the U.S. GDP was US$2.599 trillion and per capita GDP US$11,360. This was 9.15 times and 39.17 times that of Chinese GDP and per capita GDP, which were US$284 billion and US$290, respectively. By 2000, however, the U.S. figures had increased to US$9.837 trillion and US$37,836. These were 9.1 times and 42.99 times those of China at US$1.08 trillion and US$880, respectively. In absolute terms, the U.S. GDP exceeded the Chinese by US$2.315 trillion in 1980, a figure that increased to US$8.757 trillion in 2000. The per capita U.S. GDP was US$11,070 more than the Chinese in 1980 and increased to US$36,956 in 2000. China’s trade volume in 2001 was US$500 billion; U.S. trade was US$1.23 trillion in 1990, rising to US$2.503 trillion in 2001, of which US$1.068 trillion represented exports. The gap in military expenditures between the United States and China is also increasing. U.S. military expenditures were US$298.9 billion in 1991, US$288.6 billion in 1995, US$276.2 billion in 1999, US$291.1 billion in 2000, US$310 billion in 2001, US$343 billion in 2002, and US$379 billion in 2003.1 By contrast, China’s military expenditures were US$7.3 Relations with the United...