US_China: an asymmetry of state attitudes

"I hope US will issue more visas to Chinese students." _ a senior student in Peking University.

"I hope the meeting will lower the McDonald' s price in Beijing" _ a Beijing reident eating in McDonald' s.

These are two examples I found on one of China' s biggest news website, www.sina.com.cn that show that the coming meeting of Chinese President Jiang Zemin and George W Bush triggered vivid imagination among Chinese people. The overall tendency of the news on China' s side is quite optimistic, some say that the Sino-US relationship is experiencing an unprecedented peaceful era after Sept 11 event. Some are even expecting this summit to be another landmark in the Sino-US relationship the way that the Nixon-Mao meeting was in the '70 s.

Slightly to my surprise, when I read through US news reports on this issue, I didn't feel much difference in the overall warm and cooperative atmosphere, and it seems that the world needs the two nations to be friends at this moment. They won't avoid sensitive issues though, including weapons, North Korea, Iraq. These issues are all involved in this summit yet both sides are very positive toward a harmonious conversation, which will take place at the Bush ranch, two weeks before Jiang steps down from his current position in the communist party.

As a team member of TILIP (Tufts Institute of Leadership and International Perspective) said, "the US just doesn't really see the meeting as that friendly as the Chinese media may have boosted." Similarly, in China people always ask, "why don't we use domestically produced CPU?" but issues like this are rarely covered in the formal media. Exploring deeper into the current news it's not hard to raise more puzzling questions: what will Jiang gain politically from this trip? Why isn't the so-called fourth-generation leader of the party going this time? Maybe a delicate game theory model can solve similar puzzles, but not this one.

All the answers will become clear quite soon and as long as China and the US can retain their stable relationship and combine their effort to build up a more peaceful international environment, who cares about the summit. However, even though it's only a 90-minute private gathering in a relaxing place in Texas, the potential power of the meeting should not be neglected.

This is actually a golden opportunity for the two nations to build up genuine understanding of each other, in the way the two presidents may feel on a personal level. Generally, the youth of China, especially university students, are more passionate and ready to express their feelings and attitude toward such events and up to now, their expectation and comments have both been positive. I, as a current economics student at Peking University and a potential cross-cultural scholar, really hope that this trust will grow stronger and a more profound base for cooperation will be built through this effort.

There relationship is imperfect, however. As expressed in the opening notes, many Chinese students are suffering because of the US's limitation on visas, and we know that not only in China, but also in many other nations in the world: the atmosphere is getting sensitive. This is obviously harmful for ongoing academic activities between the US and other nations, and other potential losses are also significant, for example the loss from international trade.

For a certain period of time, the US has been absorbing the brightest minds from allover the world, now its changing its strategy under political constraints. It's really a pity for those who have faith in the leading research programs of the US and the US is also negatively affected, in that it is losing its best professors and miracle makers, in a time when technological innovation is most needed in developed countries. We students will soon become the core of tomorrow's society and we really hope that US will give us a good first-impression in our first round of direct interaction with the nation, with the visa officers from the nation.

The North Korea issue in the summit has surely captivated many eyes, and again to my slight surprise, most are not expressing too much interest or holding a too high expectation of the conversation. The people that I have talked to have learned to be critical and objective after witnessing all the changes in the recent past and their comments are mostly: how will a 90-minute conversation at a ranch count?

They have to some degree agreed that it's more of a retirement party of Jiang instead of a formal discussion of political and diplomatic affairs. Anyhow as the conversation is conducted in a way that no other people except the translators are present, it's not rash to say that there might be some substantial progress, or at least the two giants will benefit from each other. After all, it is a big effort and hopefully Jiang will bring what he learns this time to APEC and to his future influence on the new chair of China Communist Party.



Monic Sun is a senior majoring in economics at Peking University in Beijing.