In response to an FT article by Philip Stephens on 30th April 2015, entitled 'A frosty peace beckons for the US and China'
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8954160-ee71-11e4-98f9-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3YsJyhfYW
"For its part, Washington is giving up on the idea that a risen China can be co-opted as a stakeholder in the present global order"
This is either naive or disingenuous. Given up on co-operation? If Washington wants the Chinese government to believe it understands that word, there are a few things it can do:
1. Get Congress to lift the block on increased voting rights for China on the IMF
2. Tell the IMF that it has no objection to the Renminbi becoming part of the SDR this October
3. Give up all attempts to boycott and/or hamstring the AIIB, and maybe even ask to join. Yes, join - get over it.
4. Tell Mr Kerry to stop making hypocritical 'sideways swipes' at China like the one he made earlier this week: 'We reject any suggestion that freedom of navigation, overflight, and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are privileges granted by big states to small ones, subject to the whim and fancy of a big state'. If Mr Kerry had even a slight grip on reality he would know how ridiculous this sounds to anyone in Beijing. Although they would never say so, I suspect even Western politicians and diplomats choked on their coffee when they heard this latest piece of spurious tosh
5. Tell Mr Abe that distracting his population from the mess he's creating at home, by setting up a foreign 'boogy man’ is an old trick that the history books are full of. One that always ends in tears for the young people who have to do the bleeding and the dying when the politicians start a war
Finally, when you refer to 'Washington' you are describing a very mixed and dysfunctional bag. There are very influential people in Washington who are not the slightest bit interested in co-operation, but are very interested in hegemony, and all the 'defence' profits that go with it. If Mr Obama is serious about having international co-operation as his 'legacy', he should firstly fire a few people, and secondly take away the lucrative 'contracts' that go to their friends and relatives. I trust you know who they are Mr Stephens.