Kevin Rudd: Realism, Purpose for Sino-U.S. Ties

(Beijing) – As Kevin Rudd sees it, China and the United States should start building a common narrative to foster the kind of trust that's needed to tackle today's difficult problems.

Working together on common projects could encourage such narrative-building and help the two countries overcome their differences, said Rudd, a former Australian prime minister who spoke with Caixin in an exclusive interview April 23.

Rudd's comments reflected a much larger discussion of Sino-U.S. relations in his recently released white paper, U.S.-China 21: The Future of U.S.-China Relations under Xi Jinping, Toward a New Framework of Constructive Realism for a Common Purpose. The report was released recently in Shanghai.

Rudd argues that bilateral cooperation can help any two countries build political and diplomatic assets that can be used to resolve fundamental differences. So fostering cooperation and trust between the China and the United States could help them feel comfortable about working together on global problems such as terrorism and pandemics.

He admitted that several issues underscored by conflicting interests cannot be resolved in the near future, such as U.S. sales of military supplies to Taiwan. "I can pretend that you could" settle the Taiwan arms issue "but that would be lying. So I just take that as the reality."

An example of what Rudd sees as an achievable goal, however, is embedded in his proposal that current nation-members of the East Asian Summit give their organization a larger role in regional affairs. They could, for example, encourage the summit to evolve into an institution that encompasses the entire Asia-Pacific region.

Although the 18 member-state summit is relatively weak today, Rudd argues that its multilateral approach would help develop new cooperative norms and habits that improve relations between China and the United States. The summit enjoys an established framework that already involves the United States. It has open agendas on politics, security and the environment. And it's underpinned by a treaty mandate.

When asked whether a new and grand, Sino-U.S. strategy would have to wait until the next American president takes office in 2017, Rudd raised hopes that results could be achieved before President Barack Obama steps down. "There is some unreality on the assessment of Obama's current situation," he said. "If you look at the history of the American presidency, many bold foreign policy initiatives are often made in the last two years of a presidential term.

"I know it is called the lame duck period, but I have seen lame ducks fly quite well in the past," Rudd said. "So I would not underestimate what Obama and Xi could do."

The important relationship between the United States and China affects not only these countries but the whole world, Rudd said. For that reason, he said, the two powers need a protocol for addressing disagreements, so that whatever the friction points may be, nothing would "torpedo the entire relationship."

Also in the interview, Rudd explained why he supports the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and offered his views on how China should present its "One Belt, One Road" strategy to the world. Caixin will publish a transcript of the interview soon.