Professor Lanxin Xiang and HE He Yafei

He Yafei, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organisations in Switzerland visited the Graduate Institute on 26 May to give a lunch time speech entitled “China-US Relations and Global Challenges”. Throughout the lecture, the Ambassador emphasised that while the two countries often quarrel, they are essentially partners with many common interests. The lecture and question and answer session were chaired by Institute Professor in International History and Politics, Lanxin Xiang.

Institute Director, Phillipe Burrin opened the session by highlighting Ambassador He’s status as a Graduate Institute Alumnus. Ambassador He also reminded the audience of this in his welcome remarks and said the Institute provided him with a solid background for his diplomatic career of 30 years and counting.

He continued by pointing out the major differences between the United States and China, who, he said, form arguably the most important bilateral relationship in the world. While China is still a developing country, the United States is the world’s only superpower and its most developed country, he said.

Tracing the origins of US-China relations, Ambassador He described how the countries did not have any formal contact before 1979 and how, at that time, nobody would have expected the countries to have as close of a relationship as they do now. Bilateral trade between the countries went from USD 2.4 Billion in 1979 to USD 409.3 Billion in 2008, for example, he said. He stated that the two countries were previously enemies but that is no longer the case. “The world would be less prosperous and less safe if the US and China did not cooperate to address global challenges”, he said. Citizen interaction has also increased over the last 30 years with more than 5,000 people per day crossing the Pacific to visit the other country, Ambassador He pointed out.

Despite positive progress over the last three decades, the Ambassador admitted that there have been tense moments like when the United States bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia or when two military aircraft collided off the Chinese coast, both resulting in Chinese casualties. Despite these and other difficulties, the countries never went back to being enemies as they previously had been however, according to Ambassador He. “The relationship is like a difficult marriage”. The two countries have different government styles, different types of people, different ideas but have common goals, he said.

Delving further into some of the most contentious issues, Ambassador He described circumstances related to Chinese currency, Tibet and US to Taiwan arm sales. On Chinese currency, he said China’s position is that appreciation of the yuan would be to the detriment of the international financial system including to the US itself and that there is not a direct correlation between currency value and trade imbalance. He said that American companies with operations in China, which are many, would see their earnings drop if China ceded to US pressure. He laid out the history of the Taiwan issue and said that the US promised to stop selling arms to Taiwan in the 1980s but has never lived up to the promise. On Tibet, he said that China has done a lot to support and preserve Tibetan culture but that it is geographically part of China and China would not accept independence or autonomy for the region.

Ambassador He also gave China’s position on other issues that have been in the news in recent times. He said that China is opposed to both North Korea and Iran obtaining nuclear weapons but believes that it would be more effective to deter these countries from obtaining the weapons by dialogue rather than sanctions, although China has backed some sanctions packages. He said that China is committed to tackling climate change but that carbon dioxide emissions in China will continue to grow because of the countries’ rapid rate of development. He stated that developing countries should have the same privileges as developed nations in the area of energy use and that action combating climate change should not stifle economic growth. He said the current Euro crisis is of concern to China and has impact on its economy.

According to Ambassador He, the next decade will be crucial in defining the US-China relationship. The two countries will need to increase cooperation on facing prominent global challenges like rethinking the international financial system, tackling climate change, managing public health and food security, reducing the nuclear threat and other issues. Key factors to improve the relationship will be mutual respect and seeking common ground while shelving differences, he said.

Summing up, the Ambassador said that if the US and China are not partners, then he does not know what partnership means.

Prior to his current position, He Yafei was Chinese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director-General, Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs. He obtained a Master from the Graduate Institute in 1987.

Institute Faculty member since 1996, Professor Lanxin Xiang has published several works on Chinese foreign relations and has held key academic positions concentrating on international relations policy in both the United States and China.

A news item on this event appears on the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organisations in Switzerland website.