The Bali rendezvous

The Biden administration needs to translate the positive optics of the recent summit into a real outcome

President Xi Jinping’s summit level talks in Bali with his American counterpart Joe Biden resulted in a joint understanding that mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and avoidance of confrontation will help the bilateral relationship move forward in the right direction.

The positive optics, however, must translate into practical steps domestically to ensure that the relationship does not deteriorate. This should be a win-win instead of a zero-sum relationship.

The hours-long summit talks between President Xi and President Biden demonstrated potential to steer the bilateral relationship between the United States and China in the right direction.

What has been described by diplomats and academics as the world’s most important bilateral relationship in the twenty-first century now requires practical steps from the Biden administration to reinforce the positive optics.

Interestingly, hours after the summit talks, a US congressional advisory panel pushed to enact a piece of legislation seeking sanctions against China in the event of a Chinese activity towards Taiwan.

A permanent interagency committee, the US China Economic Security Review Commission (USCC) is a bipartisan group of former senior government officials that are well known for influencing both the US executive branch and legislature.

While President Biden’s remarks were well received, the expectation is that such reassurances are backed up by concrete action which has otherwise been missing from the US domestic policymaking.

After President Xi made it clear that Taiwan’s peaceful reunification with mainland China represents aspirations of the Chinese people and is non-negotiable, there is an expectation that Washington DC will respect China’s principled stance and prevent any legislation which undermines Chinese sovereignty.

What was encouraging was that President Biden spoke of ‘five noes’ which include not starting a Cold War with China, not strengthening alliances against China and not seeking Taiwanese independence.

Note, however, that the US Congress’s bipartisan commission’s calls for better coordination with the Taiwanese military are at odds with President Xi Jinping’s calls for peaceful coexistence including, abiding by the three Sino-US Joint Communiques to manage differences and conflicts.

There is also a clear disconnect between the Biden administration’s repeated assurances about not using Taiwan as a political tool to seek advantages and the domestic policy making by a deeply fractured and divided Congress.

It, hence, becomes imperative that the Biden administration translates the positive optics of the Bali summit into a real outcome and prevents the spoilers. Disinformation campaigns against China and lack of perception management will have a negative impact on future ties.

As stated by President Xi, the US and China must look at each other’s strategic intentions, foreign policy priorities and domestic policymaking impartially and fairly. Yet plans are still afoot to decouple the US-China relationship in data, trade, investments and financial systems.

The US Congress is pushing for setting stringent limits on technological and trade cooperation with China despite the US economy encountering a recession on account of inflation and rising energy prices.

There is plenty to benefit if the US cements unfettered trading ties with the Chinese economy.

It will be self-defeating for the US and the international community, if Congressional talks centered on suspending trading ties with Beijing continue even after promises in summit level talks.

Singaporean Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam acknowledged this fact while referencing the US semiconductor export controls on China at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Capella.

It is, hence, worthwhile for the US to eschew all disruptive policies and maintain consistency and harmony while approaching its relationship with China.

There also needs to be a concerted attempt on part of the Biden administration to counter negative perceptions regarding China pursuing nefarious designs.

Realistic coverage of China’s political system and its contribution to human rights, freedom, participative democracy and global peace, for example, will help address the trust deficit.

Furthermore, regular consultations and macroeconomic policies coordinated by financial teams from both sides will help the relationship considerably.

Similarly, the Biden administration must follow through on its commitment of cementing apolitical cooperation with China by understanding each other’s role in contributing to agriculture and food security alongside promotion of people to people exchanges.

Such measures instead of draconian attempts at undercutting China’s influence will have a positive impact on repairing the trust deficit.

Given that both sides spoke of the need for dialogue and deliberations on subjects such as the Ukraine war, the US policies must be geared towards confidence building measures with China for a more peaceful world order.

Addressing negative domestic policymaking, preventing propaganda warfare from taking hold and ensuring that positive optics from Bali translate into concrete action will greatly help the US-China relationship.

A sound, solid, rules-based, apolitical relationship is crucial for world peace and can result in tangible benefits to the international community which is desperately needed in times of economic free fall.

The writer is an Assistant Research Associate at IPRI