US President Joe Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit in Bali, Indonesia, Nov 14, 2022. SINGAPORE: Here is a typical description of United States-China relations: The “securitisation of everything” has led to the two countries seeing areasto higher education. It has led to a lack of trust, hampering mutual cooperation and the rest of the world may eventually have to pick sides.
Over the years, the US has criticised what it perceives as unfair Chinese economic practices, including export subsidies, currency manipulation, poor labour and environmental regulations, and espionage. Crucially, various policies have generally failed to resolve the trade imbalance between the two. American officials have long pointed the finger at Chinese hackers for cyberattacks, including one on the Pentagon in 2007. More recently in March, the US justice department claimed that aagainst China. But this was a culmination of - not a sudden rupture from - US efforts to combat the economic and cyberthreats. Unsurprisingly, US President Joe Biden’s administration has continued these.
To the US, China is a military risk towards peace and stability ; and a political risk in terms of changing the rules-based order, unlike Russia which has outright threatened these. There can be a more calculative trust, however, based upon expectations about behaviour which may be created through enforcement, supervision or other mechanisms. So, cooperation may occur even between untrustworthy parties, as long as there are payoffs and structures in place so that the other party will act appropriately.
Other countries have their own autonomy, to protect and advance their own interests first and foremost. Indonesia, for instance, has practised a “free and active” foreign policy since it became independent, “rowing between two reefs” during the Cold War.