The Silk Road Journal by Mahika Ming

On the request of US President Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a video call with his US counterpart on March 18^th.  2022 marks the 50^th anniversary of China (Peoples Republic) and USA relations which were initiated by President Nixon who visited Chairman Mao in 1972.

During the call two leaders have discussed views on bilateral relations, Ukraine situation and many other issues of mutual interest. Amid US steps in 2017 to launch an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) during the Trump administration, Biden reiterating that USA has no intension of a 21^st century cold war with China is a commendable comment that should be taken seriously by all those who work with both super powers and the BRI. However, US focus on the Indo Pacific region has intensified during the past few years and top level US officials have been frequenting the countries in the region especially the ones partnering in the BRI. A team lead by an under sectary of US government to South Asia including Sri Lanka is fresh on the news.

President Xi’s call to shoulder their share of international responsibilities and work for world peace and tranquility should also be taken seriously by the US counterparts as at times the US has looked confused on China’s strategic goals mixing them with the misunderstandings they had with the former USSR. The US should by now know that China has so far made conclusions independently based on the merits of each matter that has come up since 1949 and even before that. Chinese approach on multilateralism may be a new experience to US as it had dominated the world since the fall of USSR in 1991 but upholding international law and universally recognized norms governing international relations cannot be difficult to understand as they are published in English language.

China’s approach to Ukraine which rests on the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security should also be taken seriously by the US and its allies as Ukraine model may be tired in other places that are active in the BRI due to misunderstanding or technical errors such as India firing a missile into Pakistan. President Xi’s view on the tough task of fighting COVID-19 on the one hand and protecting the economies and people's livelihoods on the other should be realized by leaders of all nations.  Even after this video call some US officials were talking about sanctions against China. President Xi made the US leader realize that such actions would only make the people suffer and if escalated, could trigger serious crises in global economy and trade, finance, energy, food, and industrial and supply chains, crippling the already languishing world economy and causing irrevocable losses. All hands should work for peace. Once there is peace, all hands can clap in happiness.

The writer is an analyst with interests in the financial and sustainable development sectors with postgraduate exposure in the Far East (mahika.ming@gmail.com).