China-U.S. Trade Engagement in Asia Could Be Win-Win

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By Li Shengjiao, Caixin Mar 31, 2015

Politicians in Washington should drop the China threat theory and stop putting the two countries on a collision course

When opposition arises from within, exaggerating threats from the outside has practically become a regular practice adopted by some U.S. politicians to divert attention and win domestic support. The "China threat theory" is once again in vogue.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a key component of U.S. President Barack Obama's "pivot" toward Asia, is down to its final stages of negotiation. U.S. negotiators hope they can close out the TPP deal by the summer, despite mounting opposition from both sides of the nation's partisan aisle.

Obama, who is pushing to overcome resistance to the TPP from within his own party as well as conservative Republicans, has spoken publicly on multiple occasions recently, overstating China's economic threat to the United States and putting the world's two largest economies on a collision course.

"China wants to write the rules for the world's fastest-growing region. That would put our workers and businesses at a disadvantage. We want to make sure China is not writing the rules. We should write those rules," said Obama, when referring to China's growing trading influence in Asia and the TPP, a proposed U.S.-led trade agreement that includes 12 countries but not China in the Asia-Pacific region. He recently scheduled a series of interviews with local television stations around the country, seeking to ease domestic troubles with the TPP.

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