WASHINGTON - U.S. says China is playing a
more positive international role and its efforts for China's cooperation is
having some success, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
The United States last year urged China to become a responsible stakeholder
in the international system. On Thursday, Thomas Christensen, the new deputy
assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, described
himself as cautiously optimistic about the effect.
"The results of these processes are mixed but the trend lines are good," he
told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, mandated by the
U.S. Congress to keep a close eye on China.
"In engaging China and expanding our cooperation on
areas of mutual interest, we are in effect encouraging China to act as a
responsible shareholder," he said.
The concept of China as a responsible global shareholder "is not only our
objective, but a framework for a process that involves building an important and
mutually beneficial relationship" between the countries, he said.
Christensen cited China's cooperation on Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq
and global health, although other U.S. officials have frequently said Beijing
could do more, especially on North Korea and Iran.
However, he said, there were serious differences over weapons proliferation, trade and
economic imbalances.
The United States remains concerned about China's military buildup but is
"realistic" about China's need to modernize its military as its economy and
influence expand, the official said.
Asked about possible military conflict across the Taiwan Straits,
Christensen said Chinese officials "are a bit more confident that stability can
be maintained in the near term than perhaps they were" a few years earlier.
He described the U.S. approach as "hedging" the outcome of China's rise
rather than trying to contain a rival power, as Washington did with the Soviet
Union during the Cold War.
That means the United States is trying to "help channel
China's growing influence in a positive direction" while maintaining "strong
U.S. regional capabilities in case China does not eventually move down a path
consistent with our interests," he said.
He said China's global emergence is a natural consequence of
its economic growth and development and need not be seen as a threat
to the United States.
The United States welcomes the emergence of a China that is peaceful and
prosperous and that actively participates in and contributes to international
institutions, Christensen said.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created in October
2000, to monitor, investigate, and submit to the Congress an annual report on
the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic
relationship between the United States and China, and to provide recommendations
to the Congress for legislative and administrative action.