BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden recently dismissed the fear that China is going to eat the United States' lunch, igniting fresh debates in Washington on its China policy.
U.S. politicians seem to be caught in a back and forth debate on how to judge what a rising China means for their country.
This China anxiety, which usually goes up during the U.S. presidential campaign season, can be partly explained by the complexity involved in understanding such a huge country, home to a distinctive history, culture and political system.
Some may be surprised by China's rapid rise to become the world's second largest economy and its growing role in such cutting-edge technology as AI; others see the vast backward areas of the country and its much-needed development.
Then there are those who talk up the fear of competition and even a China threat, solely for political gain, a poisonous approach for the healthy development of U.S.-China relations.
No one can deny the fact that the main thread of China-U.S. relations since 1979 has largely been cooperation, which has brought increasing wealth and higher living standards for peoples on both sides of the Pacific.
Such a relationship will evolve. China's development has brought a return of competitiveness back to the ancient country, but that does not mean its cooperative nature has ended.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping repeatedly said cooperation is the best choice for both China and the United States. At the same time, competition is not the enemy of cooperation, especially regarding economic relations. The right economic competition will inevitably lead to cooperation, according to Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.
He's not alone in his thinking. Senior U.S. diplomat Charles W. Freeman Jr., stressed in an exclusive interview with Xinhua that "our competition can actually be a form of cooperation."
"I'm thinking particularly of the development of science and technology," said Freeman. "Knowledge does not come from locking yourself up in a room and thinking by yourself. It comes from exchanges with other people."
China has no desire to grab the United States' lunch. The world's two largest economies are fully capable of baking a big enough pie, one in which all corners of the globe can share.
To be responsible major countries, the United States and China should join hands in seeking a new form of responsible cooperation and competition, or "Responsible Coopetition."
Let's put an end to the antagonism, to the benefit of all.
