BEIJING (AP) ? Pres?i?dent Barack Obama and Chi?nese Pres?i?dent Xi Jin?ping face weighty issues when they meet at a pri?vate estate in Cal?i?for?nia next week, but their most impor?tant task may sim?ply be estab?lish?ing a strong rapport.
Tucked away at a man?sion with a pri?vate golf course on the edge of the Mojave Desert, Obama and Xi will search for the kind of per?sonal chem?istry that has eluded their pre?de?ces?sors for the past sev?eral decades. With the bilat?eral rela?tion?ship grow?ing ever more crit?i?cal and com?plex, how well the lead?ers click mat?ters even more?now.
Dis?trust has grown between the world?s sole super?power and the ris?ing Asian giant. Bei?jing sees Wash?ing?ton as try?ing to thwart China?s ascen?dancy. The U.S. accuses China of wide?spread com?puter hack?ing and unfair trade. Mean?while, there?s worry their mil?i?taries might be drawn into con?flict as China tries to elbow aside U.S. allies Japan and the Philip?pines over dis?puted, remote islands.
?There are a lot of prob?lems between China and the U.S. that aren?t going to be easy to solve. The hope, there?fore, is that a way can be estab?lished so that at the times of cri?sis, dia?logue will pre?vail based on trust and the per?sonal rela?tion?ship between the two lead?ers,? said Zhu Feng, deputy direc?tor of the Cen?ter for Inter?na?tional and Strate?gic Stud?ies at Peking University.
The June 7?8 get-together at the pri?vate Sun?ny?lands estate of late pub?lish?ing tycoon Wal?ter Annen?berg is the first face-to-face meet?ing between the pres?i?dents since Obama?s re-election and Xi?s pro?mo?tion to Com?mu?nist Party chief last Novem?ber. Under China?s dual party-government sys?tem, Xi didn?t offi?cially assume the title of pres?i?dent until?March.
The sum?mit comes months before the two lead?ers had been orig?i?nally sched?uled to meet, high?light?ing a per?cep?tion on both sides that the lead?ers need to refo?cus on the U.S.-China rela?tion?ship fol?low?ing their polit?i?cal tran?si?tions and amid myr?iad dis?trac?tions at home and abroad.
The accel?er?ated tim?ing con?sti?tutes ?a clear mes?sage that China wants to empha?size the impor?tance of U.S.-China rela?tions for the future,? said Cheng Li, a Chi?nese pol?i?tics expert at the Brook?ings Insti?tu?tion in Wash?ing?ton,?D.C.
It?s not clear yet how big the two del?e?ga?tions will be or whether Xi and Obama will meet one-on-one. Li said that?s some?thing Xi?s stiff and for?mal pre?de?ces?sor, Hu Jin?tao, was unwill?ing to?do.
But there are hope?ful signs that the two men will gel. Xi already has a warm rela?tion?ship with Vice Pres?i?dent Joe Biden, whom he accom?pa?nied to west?ern China on a visit in 2011. Xi also boasts a greater famil?iar?ity with the U.S. than any of his pre?de?ces?sors, hav?ing vis?ited fre?quently and main?tained his ties to fam?i?lies he stayed with in Mus?ca?tine, Iowa, while a vis?it?ing provin?cial offi?cial in 1985. He also sent his daugh?ter to Harvard.
The two men share a love of sports: swim?ming and foot?ball on Xi?s side, bas?ket?ball and golf on Obama?s. Both are mar?ried to glam?orous, high-profile wives who have played a strong role in shap?ing their images.
Xi?s wife, People?s Lib?er?a?tion Army songstress Peng Liyuan, was for many years bet?ter known to the pub?lic than her hus?band. Chi?nese media and Inter?net users closely fol?lowed her activ?i?ties dur?ing the couple?s first for?mal state vis?its to Rus?sia and three African coun?tries ear?lier this?year.
?It will be inter?est?ing to see how the chem?istry will develop. It?s impor?tant, because par?tic?u?larly in China, per?sonal rela?tion?ships always carry a lot of weight in state-to-state rela?tions,? said the Brook?ings Institution?s Li.
Xi has already proved him?self a dif?fer?ent leader by his prag?ma?tism. With rela?tions edgy, he was will?ing to forgo the pomp of an offi?cial White House visit for the lower-key meet?ing in California.
Trust between the coun?tries has dwin?dled over the decades. After U.S. planes bombed the Chi?nese Embassy in Yugoslavia in what Wash?ing?ton says was an acci?dent dur?ing the Kosovo war in 1999, angry Chi?nese pro?test?ers nearly breached the U.S. Embassy in Bei?jing. In the dis?cord, Chi?nese Pres?i?dent Jiang Zemin refused a call from the White House. Two years later, when a Chi?nese fighter jet col?lided with a U.S. sur?veil?lance plane off south?ern China, Bei?jing held the Amer?i?can crew and waited for an accept?able apol?ogy from the?U.S.
In 2009, the U.S. Navy accused Chi?nese sailors of harass?ing one of its ocean floor map?ping ves?sels in a game of high-seas chicken.
The trust gap was fur?ther under?scored by newly pub?li?cized claims Tues?day that China employed cyber?at?tacks to access data from nearly 40 Pen?ta?gon weapons pro?grams and almost 30 other defense tech?nolo?gies rang?ing from mis?sile defense sys?tems to the F-35 joint strike fighter.
The dis?clo?sure was included in a Defense Sci?ence Board report released ear?lier this year, mean?ing U.S. offi?cials knew of it before plan?ning for the sum?mit began. The disclosure?s pub?lic release allows U.S. offi?cials to high?light an issue of con?cern with?out nec?es?sar?ily over?shad?ow?ing the summit.
China?s Defense Min?istry on Thurs?day called the accu?sa?tions faulty and said they under?es?ti?mated both the Pentagon?s abil?ity to pro?tect its secrets, and the capa?bil?i?ties of China?s domes?tic defense industry.
?China is entirely capa?ble of pro?duc?ing the weaponry needed for national defense,? spokesman Geng Yan?sheng told reporters at a monthly brief?ing, point?ing to recent domes?tic tech?no?log?i?cal break?throughs such as the country?s first air?craft car?rier, new gen?er?a?tion fighter jets, large trans?port planes and the Bei?dou satel?lite system.
China has con?sis?tently denied claims its mil?i?tary is engaged in hack?ing, includ?ing those in a report by U.S. cyber?se?cu?rity firm Man?di?ant that traced the hack?ing back to a People?s Lib?er?a?tion Army unit based in Shanghai.
Other likely agenda items include the North Korean and Iran?ian nuclear pro?grams, con?flict in Syria, cli?mate change and expand?ing bilat?eral mil?i?tary ties. China will likely press its claims of busi?ness dis?crim?i?na?tion in the U.S. mar?ket, along with its deep dis?com?fort over Washington?s shift?ing of mil?i?tary assets to Asia and renewed empha?sis on its regional alliances, moves seen by China as part of an effort to con?tain its?rise.
The per?cep?tion of U.S. decline and Chi?nese ascen?dancy forms much of the sub?text to the cur?rent rela?tion?ship, with Bei?jing seek?ing greater inter?na?tional influ?ence com?men?su?rate with its sta?tus as the world?s second-largest econ?omy. Many in China see the U.S. as a wan?ing power weak?ened by the eco?nomic cri?sis, par?ti?san feud?ing and the con?flicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In their lat?est con?tri?bu?tion to diplo?matic argot, Chi?nese lead?ers now say they are seek?ing a ?new model of major coun?try rela?tions? in their deal?ings with Wash?ing?ton. Assis?tant For?eign Min?is?ter Zheng Zeguang defined that Wednes?day as ?dif?fer?ent from the old model fea?tur?ing con?fronta?tion and conflict.?
?We believe a new model of major coun?try rela?tions between China and the United States should be based on mutual trust, equal?ity, inclu?sive?ness, mutual learn?ing and win-win coop?er?a?tion,? Zheng said at a Wednes?day briefing.
Xi and Obama first met early last year when Xi, then China?s vice pres?i?dent, vis?ited the White House on a trip to meet key Amer?i?can polit?i?cal play?ers and intro?duce him?self to the Amer?i?can pub?lic. The visit afforded Xi a chance to show his human side, recon?nect?ing with his old Iowa friends, chat?ting with stu?dents at a school in Los Ange?les and even catch?ing part of a Lak?ers bas?ket?ball?game.
Known pri?mar?ily for his pedi?gree as the son of a com?mu?nist elder, Xi is seen by many observers as a strong nation?al?ist will?ing to press ter?ri?to?r?ial claims and what Bei?jing broadly pro?claims as the ?great reju?ve?na?tion of the Chi?nese nation.?
Unlike for?mer Pres?i?dent Hu, who often seemed uncom?fort?able out?side offi?cial set?tings and stuck closely to his offi?cial talk?ing points, Xi appears at ease around for?eign vis?i?tors and is known for speak?ing with?out notes and allow?ing ses?sions to run well over their sched?uled time limits.
?On a per?sonal level, he?s con?fi?dent, he?s on top of his brief and you get a very dis?tinct sense that he has a roadmap in his head in terms of where China needs to go. He?s not only a very adroit polit?i?cal oper?a?tor, but he?s also a real?ist,? said for?mer U.S. Ambas?sador to China Jon Huntsman.
Source: http://galioninquirer.com/2013/05/xi-obama-strike-relationship-summit/
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