China-US tensions: new era or old pattern? Jian Yang and Rouben Azizian predict that co-operation and friction will continue to characterise the relationship between the two great powers.

• Author: Yang, Jian

Along with its 'smart diplomacy', the Obama administration approached US-China relations with optimism and more nuance. It made it clear that the United States would welcome China's arrival as 'a prosperous and successful power' and at the same time expect China to reassure the rest of the world that its development and growing global role would not come at the expense of the security and well-being of others. In the words of US Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg, this is a policy of 'strategic reassurance'. (1) On the other hand, Beijing was pleased to see the smooth transition of Sino-American relations under the new Obama administration. It believed that in the wake of the global financial crisis Sino-American relations were at a new and promising starting point. (2) The two countries did work together to reinvigorate the world economy and address other global issues in 2009. However, the relationship deteriorated substantially in 2010, so much so that by September the Obama administration had been advised to 'prepare diplomatically and militarily for a potential crisis'. (3)

The tensions

Other than various economic disputes between the two countries, such as those over trade and currency, the Obama administration's first major friction with China was over climate change at a summit in Copenhagen in December 2009. After a series of diplomatic manoeuvres, the two major players brokered a weak accord. About two weeks later, the two countries 'squared off' over Google and Internet censorship, which was regarded as part of a long-running dispute over human rights. Another two weeks later, in late January 2010, Washington announced a US$6.4 billion arms deal with Taiwan. Chinas reactions proved to be stronger than expected. It imposed sanctions on US companies involved in the deal. The Chinese Foreign Ministry also made it clear that co-operation between China and the United States over important international and regional issues would also be affected. China subsequently cancelled a visit by the US Defense Secretary and suspended its military exchanges with the United States. The strained relations suffered another blow in mid-February 2010 when President Obama met exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House.

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What has really strained the relationship is a series of events triggered by the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan on 26 March 2010, which killed 46 seamen. A South Korean-led investigation carried out by a team of international experts from South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Sweden found that a North Korean submarine was responsible. While North Korea flatly rejected the team's conclusion, China simply said that it 'noted the investigation results'. China then blocked South Korea's effort to have the UN Security Council adopt a resolution condemning North Korea.

The tensions between China and the United States started to increase quickly when it was reported that the United States might send USS George Washington, an American nuclear-powered super-carrier, to the Yellow Sea to exercise. The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that 'We firmly oppose foreign military vessels and planes conducting activities in the Yellow Sea and China's coastal waters that undermine China's security interests.' To back up its verbal protest, in early July, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy held live-fire drills in the East China Sea, followed by a military supply drill, code-named Warfare 2010, in the Yellow Sea later in the month.

American response

On the other hand, the US Defense department responded to the Chinese objections firmly, saying that 'Where we exercise, when we exercise, with whom and how, using what assets and so forth, are determinations that are made by the United States Navy ... by the Department of Defense, by the United States government.' Further, Washington announced that a series of additional exercises would occur in the Yellow Sea and George Washington would join those exercises.

Amid the dispute about US-South Korea military exercises in the Yellow Sea, Washington and Beijing were also involved in a diplomatic dispute over the South China Sea. Beijing told senior US officials in March 2010 that it regarded the South China Sea as one of its 'core interests', along with Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang, implying that the United States should not interfere with the issue. Reportedly, Beijing was trying to bargain with Washington over its support for tough UN sanctions against Iron over that country's nuclear programmes and also for Chinese President Hu Jintao's participation in Obama's Nuclear Security Summit in April 2010.

Contrary to Chinese expectations, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected China's territorial claims at the ASEAN forum in Vietnam on 23 July 2010, saying that 'The United States has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia's...