Trump-Xi Meeting Proposes New Positioning for Sino-US Relations; Chinese Scholar Says Key Issues Remain Unresolved

(CNA, Beijing, 14th, by reporter Chang Shu-ling) When Chinese President Xi Jinping met with US President Donald Trump today, he mentioned building a 'Sino-US constructive strategic stability relationship' as a new positioning for Sino-US relations. Chinese scholar Shi Yinhong pointed out that the Chinese side wants to manage competition, but key issues need to be clarified, otherwise it's just empty talk.

The 'Trump-Xi meeting' was held on the morning of the 14th, with US-China relations being a key focus. According to Xinhua News Agency, Xi Jinping emphasized at the meeting that China is committed to the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of Sino-US relations. He and Trump agreed to establish a 'Sino-US constructive strategic stability relationship' as the new positioning for Sino-US relations, which will provide strategic guidance for the relationship for the next three years and beyond.

Xi Jinping said that 'constructive strategic stability' should be a positive stability focused on cooperation, a benign stability with moderate competition, a normal stability with controllable differences, and a lasting stability with predictable peace.

Renmin University of China professor Shi Yinhong told a CNA reporter, 'The Sino-US constructive strategic stability relationship is a demand from the Chinese side, and the US side has not yet responded to it. The Chinese side believes that on major issues, the key seems to be 'managing competition'.'

Shi Yinhong pointed out that there are three unanswered questions about managing competition: Where does this competition originate? What are the structural, situational, and specific factors? What costs or mutual concessions are needed to manage this competition? If the two sides cannot find mutually acceptable answers, then 'constructive strategic stability' will only be a rhetorical device.

In addition, Xi Jinping also mentioned Taiwan during the Trump-Xi meeting, stating, 'The Taiwan issue is the most important issue in Sino-US relations. If handled well, the relationship between the two countries can maintain overall stability. If not handled well, the two countries will collide or even conflict, pushing the entire Sino-US relationship into a very dangerous situation. Taiwan independence is as incompatible with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait as fire and water. Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the greatest common denominator for both China and the US, and the US must handle the Taiwan issue with extreme caution.'

Shi Yinhong said that China has always warned the US side of the possibility of military conflict with the United States over the Taiwan issue. He believes there is nothing special about this statement this time.

According to a report by Phoenix Net, Wu Xinbo, Dean of the Institute of International Studies and Director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, said that this new positioning of a 'Sino-US constructive strategic stability relationship' elevates the level of Sino-US relations. It means that the relationship has been upgraded from a 'tactical truce' to a strategic level of seeking substantive consensus on important issues.

He said this shows that through this summit and subsequent high-level diplomatic exchanges, China and the US are to form more and more consensus, expand cooperation, and effectively manage differences, developing from the 'tactical stability' reached at the Trump-Xi meeting in Busan last year towards 'strategic stability', an upgrade in level.

Regarding the new changes this new positioning will bring to Sino-US relations in terms of economy, technology, and the Taiwan Strait issue, Wu Xinbo said that the answers to which specific issues have seen progress and where differences have been narrowed should be known at the end of Trump's visit to China. (Editor: Yang Sheng-ju) 1150514