This year marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S.-China “Ping-Pong diplomacy. Two official news releases on the front page of Xinhua News Agency on April 24 highlight the delicate nature of current U.S.-China relations.
At an event co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the State General Administration of Sports, and the Chinese American People’s Friendship Association to commemorate the 50th anniversary of U.S.-China “ping pong diplomacy,” Wang Qishan, in his capacity as vice president, again emphasized that relations between the two countries are at an “important juncture The two countries are at an “important juncture” where cooperation is beneficial and fighting is harmful, and cooperation is the only “right choice” for both sides. However, the speech of former U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger, who was invited to the event, did not appear in the Xinhua report.
In another Xinhua report, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a video exchange with the Council on Foreign Relations on the evening of April 23, Beijing time. Wang Yi said, “We emphasize ‘leveling the playing field’ and want an equal.”
Fifty years ago, “ping pong diplomacy” initiated U.S.-China contacts that ultimately changed the political landscape between East and West. As a result, China was able to gain a foothold in the international community amidst the bipolar ideological confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, 50 years later, Yang Jiechi’s so-called “China does not eat this” is undoubtedly an irony of the current U.S.-China relationship.
What exactly is the “even-handedness” that Wang Yi wants? Xinhua News Agency mentioned Wang Yi’s “five hopes” for the United States: first, that the United States should objectively understand and rationally treat China’s development; second, that it should develop a new path of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation with China; third, that it should respect and accommodate China’s independently chosen path and system; fourth, that it should practice genuine multilateralism; and fifth, that it should not interfere in China’s internal affairs at every turn.
Seemingly to avoid a lack of meaning in his words, Wang Yi also made a point of explicitly criticizing the Biden administration, “The new U.S. administration’s policy toward China has not yet shaken off the shadow of the previous administration, has not yet come out of the misunderstanding of its perception of China, and has not yet found the right path for dealing with China.”
Indeed, U.S.-China relations have not eased with the new Biden administration in office. Along with the Wuhan-originated New Crown virus ravaging the world, China’s flurry of war-wolf diplomatic offensives and domestic human rights crackdowns, including the militarization of man-made islands in the South China Sea, threats of force against Taiwan, the implementation of Hong Kong’s national security law, the mass forced detention of Xinjiang’s Muslim minority, economic sanctions against Australia for calling for a virus traceability investigation and European parliamentarians and academics concerned about the Uighur clan’s genocide, U.S. policy toward China and The international political situation is undergoing an unprecedented reversal.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted this week to pass the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, which explicitly addresses China’s challenges at almost all levels: economic, scientific and technological, military, and human rights. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made it clear that the U.S. has a full understanding of the threats and challenges posed by China, and that the Strategic Competition Act will lay the groundwork and direction for Washington to develop policies to counter Beijing.
In addition, Reuters on Saturday also quoted White House officials as saying that President Joe Biden will personally attend the G-7 meeting in June. It is expected that Biden will focus on the current strategic competition between democracies and autocracies, “particularly with China.
The “ping pong diplomacy” of 50 years ago was once hailed as a good example of the “small ball pushing the big ball” in U.S.-China relations. But there is no doubt that the direction in which the two countries “pushed” at that time also included a common expectation of universal values such as democracy and freedom. Can China, which is currently “set in its ways”, still “level the playing field” with U.S. strategic competition? The answer to this question does not seem optimistic.
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