Wilder Talks U.S.-China Relations

Brookings Institute Visiting Fellow Dennis C. Wilder discussed what President Obama should keep in mind during his November visit to Beijing yesterday during the first in a series of workshops on Chinese politics and foreign policy at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

Speaking to an engaged and well-informed audience, the former senior director for East Asian affairs for the National Security Council said that he believed in a “constructive, cooperative, and candid” relationship with China.

Drawing on his experience while working closely with President George W. Bush, Wilder addressed a wide range of U.S.-China policy issues including North Korea, Iran, Tibet, the economy, Chinese nationalism, and the military.

Wilder said that he was impressed by Bush’s “straight talk” with Chinese leaders and noted that since the Beijing Olympics last year, there has been a “large degree of transition and maturity that came into the relationship” between the U.S. and China.

He spoke critically of the new U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, a forum to discuss strategic and economic issues of importance for both nations in which each country sends high-level representatives and delegations to meet annually in either Beijing or Washington D.C.

Wilder also warned that establishing a G2 summit between the two states may prove upsetting to other East Asian countries.

“The center of gravity in international trade has really shifted from the European side...to the East Asian side,” he said. “This isn’t only the story of China.” He added that China’s success is “built on the fabric of the emergence of East Asia.”

In an interview after his workshop, Wilder said that he would recommend that institutions of higher education like Harvard reinstate training programs like those present during the 1980s that allowed military officers from China to visit and experience America.

Wilder’s expertise drew many non-Harvard students—including Chris J. Murray, a student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University—to the workshop.

Murray said that considering Wilder’s background, it was a “no brainer” to attend.

“It’s very easy for the US-China relationship to come to blows,” he said. “It’s important to gain knowledge in terms of how they work.”