Tempering Change With Cooperation

Having won the presidential race， will Donald Trump keep his campaign promises and get tough on China， or will he be guided by pragmatism？

Its too early to determine whether Trump will adhere to the China-U.S. relationship during Obamas term. Hopefully such a relationship will proceed， and cooperation will continue to dominate future China-U.S. relations.

Economic ties between China and the United States were sound during Obamas tenure， and trade frictions between the two countries declined slightly compared with previous periods. However， distrust still exists between the two， and Obamas rebalance to Asia strategy has led to new conflicts.

Economic and trade cooperation has underpinned Sino-U.S. relations over the past decades. As a real-estate mogul， Trump may understand well the importance of a sound business partnership. Hopefully he will use his expertise to further economic and trade relations with China. Although he has criticized Chinas economic policies on multiple occasions on his campaign trail—vowing to impose high tariffs on products from China and to crack down on Chinas subsidies for its exports—his actual China policy may diverge from his campaign promises， as previous examples show.

The priority for Trump with regard to bilateral relations should be to push forward the negotiations on the China-U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaty， expand market access and enable better business environments. The signing of the treaty will facilitate bilateral investment and boost trade， bringing benefits to consumers in both countries.

Sino-U.S. relations are one of the major-country relationships that can shape the global geopolitical power balance and， thereby， have a huge impact on the whole world. Both face global problems such as climate change， the North Korean nuclear issue and sluggish global economic growth. Cooperation will benefit both， as the pairs collaboration on climate change demonstrates. Confrontation， however， over the South China Sea for example， will not only harm the interests of the two but also have negative repercussions for the world at large.

With peace and development being the trends of the global environment， joint actions should be the choice of both nations. China has no intention to seek hegemony， nor is it the United States enemy. Instead， it has always been an advocate of harmony and peace.

China and the United States have already accumulated extensive experience in joint efforts in a number of areas. It is anticipated that the Trump administration will expand the two countries areas of synergy and create bright prospects for their relations.