Switching to a win-win mindset

The partial US federal government shutdown, which reached its 10th day on Thursday, has been a mess for tens of thousands of Chinese tourists visiting the US during China's National Day holiday week.

Major attractions, including the Statue of Liberty, Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks and the National Mall with its dozen museums, have been closed since Oct 1.

A simultaneous fight over raising the US debt ceiling has caused deep concern for China and other major US debt holders.

However, some US pundits believe that the Chinese have reason to celebrate.

At least that was the feeling I got at an Oct 2 function when several pundits at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington talked about how US President Barack Obama's cancelation of trips to the Philippines and Malaysia represented a win for China and a loss for the US. They might have said just two days later that it was huge victory for China when Obama decided to abort the whole East Asia trip.

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former State Department official, shared this view in his article discussing the repercussions resulting from Obama's Asia absence.

It seems that without the benefit of Obama's presence, East Asia will suddenly fall apart or China will take the opportunity to rock the boat.

What we have seen, though, is that President Xi Jinping has not altered his plans in order to take advantage of Obama's absence. What we have also seen is that Chinese leaders laid out their vision for common prosperity, peace and stability in the region. That kind of peace, stability and economic integration has benefited the region, including China. So it would be foolish to suggest that China wants to see conflict in the region.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Obama said that US cooperation with China is not a zero-sum game. And there are a lot of areas where China and the US agree.

However, a sense of pique seemed to be evident with what Obama went on to say. "I'm sure the Chinese don't mind that I'm not there right now, in the sense that, you know, there are areas where we have differences and they can present their point of view and not get as much of push-back as if I were there."

It is surprising to see that instead of focusing on the real reason that caused the partial government shutdown and a possible default on Oct 17, some US pundits, politicians and news organizations have tried to find fault with China.

It is indeed true that the shutdown looks bizarre to many Chinese, but such an exceptional phenomenon actually seems bizarre to many people the world over.

The ugly fight among the two parties, Republican and Democratic, certainly looks like a joke when they get stuck in an endless election campaign mode. Neither wants the other to score despite the fact that the lives of so many people, including Chinese tourists, is negatively affected.

Apart from financial worries, the impasse has also dealt a huge blow to those who look up to the US political system but now find it increasingly dysfunctional.

That again is not China's fault.

Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary, said that he could visualize a world in which China and the US both prospered or one in which neither prospered, but he could not visualize a world in which one prospered and the other did not.

In their informal summit in Sunnylands, California, in early June, Xi and Obama pledged to defy historical rivalry that has usually plagued relations between a rising power and the existing power and seek a win-win situation.

Clearly, those who interpret Obama's absence as a win for China and a loss for the US need to evolve with the times and change their mindset. They should not get stuck in the Cold War era.

The author, based in Washington DC, is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 10/11/2013 page8)