Rudd: China, US Need 'Shared View of How the Two Powers Should Coexist'

In a new Financial Times op-ed, Asia Society Policy Institute President Kevin Rudd proposes that a framework for managing points of contention can help the U.S. and China to sustain a good relationship through “this challenging period of China’s rise.” Rudd’s column distills the argument he makes in his report U.S.-China 21: The Future of U.S.-China Relations Under Xi Jinping for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

“Both China and the U.S. have strategic narratives about each other,” Rudd explains in the op-ed. “In Beijing’s eyes, the U.S. is deeply opposed to China’s rise.” For its part, the United States perceives that “Beijing’s long-term policy is aimed at pushing the U.S. out of Asia altogether and establishing a Chinese sphere of influence spanning the region.”

Missing from the U.S.-China relationship, Rudd writes, is “a shared view of how the two powers should coexist.” Rudd goes on to conclude:

The future of the U.S.-China relationship is not predetermined. It is for the two countries’ leaders to shape. They have more common interests than may meet the eye. The world faces a growing list of challenges that are too big for even the strongest countries to solve alone. International institutions are often not up to the task, either. This is an opportunity to make common cause.

Rudd also discussed his outlook for U.S.-China relations on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and Bloomberg TV’s “Bloomberg Surveillance” on April 17. The player above presents a clip of his CNBC interview. View more videos and content related to U.S.-China 21.