US President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping (L) shake hands as they meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on November 14, 2022.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
Relations between the U.S. and China are on a “dangerous” path with “no trust” on either side, political observers told CNBC.
Beijing regards Washington as “its primary adversary” and “believes the U.S. is intent on closing off the trail of China,” said Stephen Roach, senior fellow at Yale University’s Paul Tsai China Center.
“Straight away, there is no such thing as a trust,” he told “Squawk Box Asia” on Tuesday, who’s currently attending the China Development Forum in Beijing.
William Cohen, former secretary of defense under the Clinton administration, underlined an analogous sentiment and said the contentious backwards and forwards between either side has reached a “dangerous” level.
“I feel it is very dangerous at any time when you may have two competing powers, and nuclear weapons within the hands of each powers — that is a really dangerous place to be,” Cohen, now chairman and CEO of the Cohen Group, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
In early March, China’s latest foreign minister Qin Gang, said relations with the U.S. have left a “rational path” and warned of conflict if Washington doesn’t “hit the brake.”
U.S.-China tensions spike
Tensions between the united statesand China have been rising over time, starting from trade and tariffs to tech rivalry and alleged spying.
More recently, things escalated again after the U.S. shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon. This triggered Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel his trip to Beijing over the incident last month.
“The balloon was a spark that basically put us on a swift downhill descent,” Roach added. “If a balloon can derail this relationship the best way it did so swiftly, it just tells you ways damaged and distrustful the 2 nations are of this relationship.”
China and the U.S. have also been sparring over other contentious issues.
Washington was “very concerned that China’s considering providing lethal support” to Russia in its war against Ukraine. Issues over Taiwan have also drawn China’s anger, with Beijing consistently warning that Taiwan is the “first red line” that must not be crossed.
If a balloon can derail this relationship the best way it did so swiftly, it just tells you ways damaged and distrustful the 2 nations are of this relationship.
Stephen Roach
Senior fellow Yale University
“I just have been in China now for five days and the story here is the mirror image of what you decide up within the U.S.,” Roach said. “China is completely convinced they’ve an American problem.”
He added: “I’ll return tonight to the U.S. and I’ll hear the precise opposite — that America has a China problem.”
Concerns over Tik Tok
Last week, the CEO of China-owned social media app TikTok, spent hours testifying to U.S. lawmakers, who desired to know if American data could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.
There was “quite a lot of discussion” around the difficulty on the China Development Forum, said Roach.Â
“The videos of that appearance really went viral,” he noted. “It truly is something that I’d say the Chinese experts, officials, and business those that I spoke with on the [forum] found very offensive and made them very anxious.”
Historically, when you may have two competing powers rising, it often results in conflict “on a majority of occasions,” Cohen warned.
Beijing is fast becoming a world economic power that’s closely competing with Washington on several fronts, in response to him.
China has amassed an “amazing amount of weaponry that they developed in a really short time frame. Their economy, I feel, is kind of solid throughout the world,” Cohen said.
The connection is “going to get harder,” he noted, who stressed that either side need to have interaction to avoid misunderstanding or miscalculation.Â
Taiwan visit
There’s potential for tensions to flare up again after Taiwan’s office of the president confirmed last week that Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to transit through Latest York and Los Angeles at the top of March during her visit to Guatemala and Belize. The office didn’t provide details of her itinerary while within the U.S.
On Taiwan, China has repeatedly said the difficulty is an internal affair. Beijing claims that the self-governed island is a component of its territory, and maintains that Taiwan shouldn’t have any right to conduct foreign relations.
The Biden administration has been keen to downplay the Taiwan president’s transit, calling it “not unusual.”Â
“President Tsai has done it six times. Each Taiwan president in recent memory has done this,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, said at a press briefing last week.
“There isn’t any reason for China to overreact. Heck, there isn’t any reason for them to react. I mean, that is something that … is commonplace and has happened before, will likely occur again. It’s personal. It’s unofficial,” he added. Â
Each countries are “equally guilty and mismanaging their relationship,” said Roach. Washington must work out its intentions toward Beijing, he added.
“How far are we prepared to go?” he asked. “If there’s ever been a time to give attention to resolving a dysfunctional relationship that point is right away,” said Roach.
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