China ‘overly optimistic’ on relations with US, Beijing adviser says

There may be signs of a thaw, but tensions won’t significantly ease in the foreseeable future, according to Shi Yinhong

The international relations expert says the US won’t stop trying to contain China, especially its military and tech development

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China and the US are at odds over a long list of issues, from trade and technology to human rights. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:00pm, 12 Oct 2021Updated: 11:54pm, 12 Oct 2021

A government adviser in Beijing has cautioned against being too optimistic about signs of a thaw in relations with Washington, saying the US will not stop trying to contain China.

Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University and adviser to the State Council, China’s cabinet, said consensus would be hard to reach given the nations’ long-standing differences.

The world’s two biggest economies are at loggerheads over a long list of issues, from trade and technology to the origins of the pandemic, human rights, and China’s territorial claims.

Chinese people always have a short memory – if the US president so much as smiles … they get excited

Shi Yinhong, international relations expert

“The relationship between China and the US is now in a situation where tensions are still high but it is frozen or suspended there, compared with the past eight months, and it will not significantly ease in the foreseeable future,” Shi said at a book launch hosted by the Centre for China and Globalisation think tank in Beijing on Monday.

He said there had been signs of improving ties, citing the return of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou from Canada after US prosecutors dropped an extradition request for her.

Shi also noted that US government officials had toned down their rhetoric over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and had been relatively quiet after an inconclusive US intelligence report into the origins of Covid-19, while President Joe Biden had avoided directly criticising China in remarks at the UN General Assembly last month.

There are reportedly plans for a virtual summit between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden before the end of the year. Photo: AFP

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China ‘overly optimistic’ on relations with US, Beijing adviser says

There may be signs of a thaw, but tensions won’t significantly ease in the foreseeable future, according to Shi Yinhong The international relations expert says the US won’t stop trying to contain China, especially its military and tech development

There may be signs of a thaw, but tensions won’t significantly ease in the foreseeable future, according to Shi Yinhong

The international relations expert says the US won’t stop trying to contain China, especially its military and tech development