New China-U.S. grand strategy proposal, as published in People's Daily Online
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 12:01AM 
The Center for America China Partnership, Barnett Consulting LLP and leading Chinese policy experts have been spent the past few weeks preparing a China-US Grand Strategy Proposal that was published on People's Daily Online yesterday, 22 Nov 2010.
I will be in Beijing participating in meetings with Chinese government decision-makers and business- and thought-leaders regarding the proposal and other issues from December 3-13.
My next WPR column will offer my take on the piece, a bit more backstory, and plumb the same basic trade-offs.
My point in this exercise: I wanted to explore what a serious and ambitious rebalancing of the U.S.-China relationship would logically entail. Where would be the compromises? What would constitute the breakthroughs?
The full text:
Here is the package of arrangements in a new China-U.S. grand strategy implementing essential bilateral and multilateral breakthroughs, which current policies, proposals and ad hoc arrangements cannot create.
When agreed upon by the presidents of both nations through an "executive agreement" not subject to U.S. Senate ratification, it will promote U.S. economic recovery, increase U.S. exports to China, create 12 million US jobs, balance China-US trade as well as reduce U.S. government deficits and debt. Furthermore, it will stabilize the U.S. dollar, global currency and bond markets. It will also enable reform of international institutions, cooperative climate change remediation, international trade, global security breakthroughs as well as facilitate the economic progress of developed and developing economies, the stabilization and rebuilding of failed states and security of sea transport.
The essence of the grand strategy is that the United States and China will balance their bilateral trade and never go to war with each other, and the US will refrain from seeking regime change and interference in China's internal affairs with regard to Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, the Internet, human rights etc. and China will continue its political, legal, economic and human rights reforms.
The Taiwan situation will be demilitarized by an informal U.S. presidential moratorium on arms transfers to Taiwan, China's reduction of strike forces arrayed against it, a reduction of U.S. strike forces arrayed against China and ongoing joint peacekeeping exercises by U.S., Chinese and Taiwan militaries.
The strategic uncertainty surrounding nuclear program in Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will be de-escalated by the U.S. eschewing DPRK regime change goals and China ensuring that DPRK adopt policies along the lines of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms and terminate its nuclear weapons program. China, U.S., South Korean and other military forces will together ensure maritime safety in the Yellow Sea.
The U.S. and its allies will not attack, invade or seek regime change and eliminate trade restrictions and promote trade with Iran. China will ensure Iran suspends development of nuclear weapons.
China will negotiate the eventual resolution of sovereignty disputes on the basis of the ASEAN Code of Conduct and propose and substantially invest in a new South China Sea Regional Development Corporation in which its neighbors Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam are shareholders.
The United States and China will harmonize and coordinate their roles in Asian Economic and Regional Security and relations with Asian nations to ensure the peaceful coexistence and the economic stability and growth of ASEAN nations in their bilateral and multilateral relations and roles in ASEAN, APEC, etc.
The United States and China will hold regular joint naval exercises in Asian waters, with rotating invitations to other regional navies; have permanent officer-exchange programs and create a joint peacekeeping force and command; establish a joint commission collaborating constantly on U.S. and PRC technology sharing and budget expenditures; and participate in a Peacekeeping Administrative System in which the U.N. Security Council functions like a prosecutor indicting individuals and nations violating the UN Charter, the United States and other U.N. members act as sheriff, and United States, China and other U.N. members provide economic and national security-building resources.
The annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue will become a permanently sitting commission for ongoing senior-level communications and collaboration bilaterally and multilaterally on implementing principles in the Preamble, Article 1, and other articles of the U.N. Charter. It will also focus on the rehabilitation of failing and failed states as well as the coordination of U.S. and Chinese technology and financing to ensure technologies needed for rapid and effective pollution remediation are affordable and to promote the development and financing of sustainable energy and globally needed green and other technologies.
The strategic dialogues will also center on the procurement of other resources in order to ensure global economic growth and security and will pay close attention to economic and peacekeeping issues, including reform and innovations at the United Nations, climate change negotiations, IMF, World Bank, WTO, G 20, Doha Agreement etc. and joint space exploration with other U.N. members. The Strategic and Economic Dialogue Commission will review all existing tariffs, WTO complaints and other trade and economic disputes and issues. The United States and China will collaborate in the Strategic and Economic Dialogues Commission to ensure full attainment of job creation and employment and regional development goals throughout the United States and China in areas suffering from unemployment or needing special economic growth arrangements.
China will invest up to 1 trillion U.S. dollars at the request of the U.S. President to implement the following package of new economic and business relations. The U.S. will lift export bans on high technology put in place on the assumption of possible military conflict with China. China will purchase sufficient U.S. goods and services to balance trade each year in exchange for providing U.S. American companies access to the Chinese market equal to the access that Chinese companies enjoy on the U.S. market.
The U.S. and China will encourage global joint ventures between U.S. and Chinese companies. An initial example of this will involve General Motors, which is currently 61 percent owned by the U.S. government. On a case-by-case basis, ownership limits for new investments by Chinese companies in American-owned or controlled corporations will be no more than 45 percent of each company's shares. Another 45 percent will remain with non-Chinese shareholders, and 10 percent will be reserved for U.S., Chinese and other nations' pension funds and other long-term investors. Similarly, the ownership limit for new U.S. companies' investments in China will be 45 percent with 45 percent remaining with Chinese ownership and 10 percent reserved for U.S., Chinese and other nations' pension funds and long-term investors.
Nothing in this grand strategy constitutes, is intended to nor permits the creation or operation of a "G2," nor creates an alliance between the United States and China, nor does it replace U.S. alliances. Everything in the grand strategy creates an improved framework for collaboration among the US, China and other United Nation members and facilitates the U.S. and China and all other nations' economic and national security being aligned pursuant to the Preamble and Article I and other Articles of the U.N. Charter. The agreement and implementation of this new grand strategy will immediately and sustainably reset the global economy and increase the economic, national security and progress of all nations, which is urgently required to prevent the global financial and resulting plethora of economic and national security crises from continuing to destabilize all nations.
This grand strategy proposal was created in a collaboration of John Milligan-Whyte and Dai Min, authors of China and America's Leadership in Peaceful Coexistence: China-US Relations in the Obama Administration: Facing Shared Challenges and other seven books in the America China Partnership Book Series, and Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett, author of The Pentagon's New Map, and Blueprint For Action: A Future Worth Creating and America and The World After Bush, and leading Chinese policy experts.The articles in this column represent the author's views only. They do not represent opinions of People's Daily or People's Daily Online.
Reader Comments (5)
Tom,
A very ambitious offering that serves up delicacies amid a few bitter entrées that would be see by the next Sino-American war planners as cyanide pills. That said, this proposal offers up what has been lacking, a visionary starting point with real options to be dealt with and negotiated, as generations of past visionary leaders have so aptly done in our history. Sadly, the problem is where are our Roosevelt’s, Reagan, Lincoln or Eisenhower, who has the leadership capital to deal with what many perceive as the enemy to forge a lasting relationship that will be a win-win for both the United State and China. I would hope everyone who reads this post does so with an open mind and approaches it by being willing to look back into the history of both counties before assuming the old “Cold War” stance. Good luck on your trip, I hope you have an opportunity to get out and about China and get a feel for the lay of the land and how much the country has changed since your last long visit.
A White Paper for the Presidents of America and China delivered at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Center for International Economic Exchanges, Global Think Tank Summit, National Development and Reform Commission, State Council Information Office, China Institutes for Contemporary International Relations, Central Party School and used in President Hu Jintao's preparations for November 2009 meetings with President Obama can be downloaded without charge at the Center for America China Partnership's website www.CenterACP.com
See May/June, July/August and September/October 2009 Foreign Affairs announcements of the eight volumes in the America China Partnership Book Series, (many with Look Inside feature on Amazon), which China Daily reported "created a New School of US China Relations providing a complete answer for America and China's success in the 21st century"
See also People's Daily and China Daily columns of John Milligan-Whyte and Dai Min in 2009-10
I favor the points regarding improving cooperation and trust politically and militarily but am less enthusiastic in regards to setting specific economic goals and actions. To have the US government offer up shares of GM would be a stunning move that would shake this country's economic system to the core and create such political outrage that it would be counterproductive. The two governments should seek to improve economc opportunities but should stand clear and let those opportunities be developed or not by the private sector.
Mr Barnett - keep up the great work. If you pull this off, I think both Liu Xiaobo and Obama should give you their nobel medals. I am always telling more people in HK and China to read your blog.
A creative and imaginative starting point. Good travels.