WASHINGTON — The United States is preparing to open a new diplomatic front in its increasingly complex relationship with China in an effort to reduce the danger of a major miscalculation between the two giants.
Unlike current contacts that focus on specific economic, political and security issues, the new dialogue will seek to look at U.S.-China relations in a larger framework, a recognition of Beijing's growing importance.
Senior State Department officials say they hope the new channel will develop into a deeper level of engagement, one that will be more conversation than negotiation, that builds trust and offers a chance to study the broader implications of specific issues that have turned Sino-U.S. ties into one of America's most challenging international relationships.
"We want to try to get people to look across issues and see their interrelationships -- whether its foreign and security policy or economic, trade, finance or energy," Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick said in an interview.
For the Bush administration, the new talks reflect a conviction that it needs to do more to address the implications of China's rapid emergence in the four years since America was hit by the Sept. 11 attacks, then occupied with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The talks also come as anti-China sentiments are rising in Congress, driven by worries about Beijing's expanding economic might, its growing trade surplus with the U.S. and a steady military buildup that has unsettled America's defense planners. Some lawmakers believe that, far from solidifying its engagement strategy, the United States should begin to confront China.
"The general feeling is we're headed into a rough patch," said Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, a China scholar at Georgetown University.
Zoellick, known and respected by the Chinese during his job as U.S. trade representative during President Bush's first term, has been named to head an American delegation, while Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo will lead China's delegation. The inaugural two-day meeting of the new dialogue, scheduled in Beijing early next month, is expected to focus mainly on setting up the new process.
The stakes in adjusting effectively to China's emergence as a major power could hardly be higher.
