By IANS,
Beijing : China hopes that the new Obama administration would set a more constructive tone in crafting its China policy as it pointed out that US President Barack Obama’s first term had seen ties “effectively whittled down”, state-run news agency Xinhua said.
A commentary in Xinhua, which appeared after Obama defeated his Republican challenger Mitt Romney to clinch a second term at the White House said: “For four years, China-US relations, which Obama himself dubbed as the world’s most important, has zigzagged forward.”
“On his watch, the US government has sold a huge amount of arms to Taiwan, received (Tibetan spiritual leader) the Dalai Lama at the White House, frequently stirred up trade disputes and currency spats with China, and blatantly meddled in China’s territorial rows with its neighbours, each of which has effectively whittled down the two nations’ mutual trust,” it said.
“It is hoped that the new Obama administration would set a more constructive tone in crafting its China policy.”
The news agency said that during the year-long presidential campaign, both Obama and his rival Romney put a lot of energy into “discrediting China, unfairly calling Beijing a trade cheater, a currency manipulator, a US job stealer and a rules breaker”.
“In fact, all these mud-slinging and trouble-making offenses against China have been around for years, and are essentially a product of Washington’s uneasiness over China’s three decades of rapid economic growth, as well as its lack of the most basic trust in China’s determination to rise peacefully,” it said.
The commentary pointed out that it is natural for the US to have “difficulty completely disarming its suspicions toward China, which is politically, economically and culturally different”.
“However, the US should know nothing in the world remains forever unchanged, and that China will never abort its development objective simply because of Washington’s unwarranted anxiety,” it added.
It went on to say that as the two countries have been economically interwoven, “a new U. government perhaps should start to learn how to build a more rational and constructive relationship with China”.
“Putting these disagreements and disamenity aside, the Obama administration has worked with China over the past four years to set up a series of communication platforms, drive up two-way trade to historic numbers, and agree on forging a partnership based on mutual trust and mutual benefit.”
Noting that the most pressing task confronting America is to energize the slack economic recovery and slash stubbornly high unemployment, it said: “The new Obama administration perhaps should bear in mind that a stronger and more dynamic China-US relationship, especially in trade, will not only provide US investment with rich business opportunities, but also help to revive the sagging global economy.”
It suggested America “change its rather uncooperative attitude in removing or easing export restrictions on high-technology products to China, an important reason for US trade deficits with China”.
“Additionally, while the new Obama administration is set to carry on its `pivot to Asia’ policy, it is expected that China’s legitimate and core interests and rightful requests to sustain growth should be truly respected,” it added.