WASHINGTON: The United States government should put greater time and effort into creating an “affirmative agenda” of cooperation on security, trade, finance and human rights with China, says a report released on Tuesday in Washington.

Although the report’s policy prescriptions do not differ greatly from establishment views towards China, it does call attention to the lack of focus on China due to US involvement in the Middle East.

The task force expresses concern that the challenges of a quickly ascending China “come at a time when the United States is immersed in a global campaign against terrorism and carrying the burdens of major military and political commitments aimed at achieving stability in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

The report, released by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a New York-based think tank, offers a framework for US-China relations in the face of a rapidly growing Chinese economy and military and an increasing US trade deficit with China.

“US-China Relations: An Affirmative Agenda, A Responsible Course” suggests that despite China’s growing regional and global influence as well as expanding military capabilities, the US and China have shared interests in improving economic relations, enhancing security relations, strengthening non-proliferation efforts, encouraging Chinese political reform and protecting the global environment.

The recommendations come from a task force chaired by Dennis C. Blair, the former commander in chief for US Pacific Command and Carla A. Hills, the former US trade representative.

The report does warn that, “The United States’ ability to champion a human rights agenda with China has been severely impaired by the US failure to live up to its own ideals of the rule of law and respect for human rights,” and that China “...criticises the United States and other developed states for having a double standard — turning a blind eye to antidemocratic, poor human rights conditions in Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and Libya, and ‘grandfathering’ US oil and gas investments in Myanmar while demanding that China halt investments in states such as Sudan.”

“This notion that somehow China is the outlier in terms of behaviour in the international community at a time when the US has never been more of an outlier is striking,” said John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus, in an interview.

Possible areas for economic cooperation in China include improving protections for US intellectual property, cracking down on high-level Chinese corruption, and negotiating with China regarding economic adjustments or a float of its currency.

The report concluded that legislation proposed last year by Senators Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, that “...attempts to pressure China into raising the value of its currency by threatening tariffs are well intentioned but misguided, and could well backfire.” “The report framers recognised the challenges associated with revaluation of currency and took a different position contrary to congressional efforts,” said Feffer.

“If the yuan revalues, it makes US goods appear cheaper,” Margaret Maurer-Fazio, a professor of Economics at Bates College and member of the editorial board of the “Journal of Contemporary China”, told reporters.

“But it is not beneficial to consumers who are getting Chinese goods. Americans on the lower end of the income spectrum really appreciate being able to get inexpensive cotton t-shirts at Wal-Mart and other consumption goods. The interests of Americans are not clearly on one side or the other (of the debate on China floating the yuan),” she said.

The CFR report addressed accusations that China is “stealing” US jobs as misleading and suggested that the current shift in the US job market from manufacturing to service positions is the result of many changes, China being only one factor.

“An effective US response to this shift in employment, therefore, requires not only encouraging China to play by the rules of international trade, but more importantly making sure the American workforce is as educated and trained as humanly possible, and that policies are in place to ensure workers against sudden job loss — unemployment insurance, health care portability, retraining programmes, etc,” concluded the task force.

The US assumed a newly aggressive stance towards Chinese infringements of US copyrights on April 9, when it sued China in the World Trade Organisation over China’s failure to crack down on piracy and refusal to open its markets to US DVDs, books and movies.

The lack of enforcement for intellectual property laws is symptomatic of a “lack of will rather than capacity (to enforce the laws),” said Hills.

On the security front, the task force suggested a “balance-of-power” approach, best accomplished by balancing China’s growing military capabilities with sustained US space, air and naval dominance in the region and improving its alliances in East Asia.

However, the report also advocates greater transparency and communication with China on military matters in order to avoid another incident such as in 2001 when a US spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet, resulting in the death of the Chinese pilot and forcing the pilot of the US plane to make an emergency landing at a Chinese military airbase on Hainan.

“The Task Force finds that a sustained and systematic official dialogue on military affairs would enhance trust and reduce the potential for miscommunication and miscalculation, particularly during crisis periods,” said the CFR report.

Washington’s policies of “restraint” and “dual assurance” with Taiwan should continue, says CFR.

Critics of the policy say that its message of deterring Chinese aggression and opposing Taiwan’s steps toward independence while at the same time assuring Beijing that the US does not seek to perpetuate Taiwan’s separation from the mainland and assuring Taipei that it does not seek to pressure it into negotiating a resolution with China is ambiguous and perpetuates an uncertain status quo.

—Dawn/The IPS News Service