On leadership.

• Author: Greenberg, Maurice R.

AMERICAN BUSINESS leaders and policymakers cannot afford to indulge in unrealistic expectations but need to face geopolitical and geo-economic realities. The United States may be the world's sole superpower at this moment in time, but if we do not address our growing fiscal and current account deficits and if we mismanage our relations with other key actors--notably China--then American leadership within the global community will be seriously weakened. For America to project leadership abroad, this administration and Congress must be prepared to take the high road and demonstrate leadership at home. Too often in recent years, shrill rhetoric, political expediency and a focus on short-term issues have distracted us from the larger picture.

For the United States to secure and advance its national interests, it needs to conduct a foreign policy that is consistent and understands the importance of carefully managing economic relations as a way to build shared interests with other states. It is very true that there can be significant differences between the United States and other major powers over values and political systems, but it is important that we never allow our trading and economic relations to become hostage to these differences. Overcoming legacies of mistrust and hostility is another benefit that can emerge from closer economic and trading ties.

Take China. In 2000, in written testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee in support of China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), I noted that I could "think of no more important geo-economic challenge facing the United States today" than successfully integrating China into the global economic order. Five years later, I continue to believe that the Sino-American relationship may be our country's single most important bilateral relationship. It is unlikely that China's political system will ever mirror ours. The histories and cultures of countries are vastly different, so it is unrealistic to expect China to have a political system that parallels any other. China's political system will reflect its own history and culture, and while it may change over time, we should not expect that our model is the only acceptable political system. While political change has been taking place in China over the past twenty years or so, we should also bear in mind that China's 1.3 billion people represent an enormous and still-untapped market for U.S. products and services. The United States needs a cooperative China, one that accepts international obligations by integrating into the rulesbased economic and security arrangements that govern global conduct. All major powers have their own national interests that they will pursue. This does not mean, however, that compromises cannot be worked out through negotiations, nor should an individual difference in a specific sector be permitted to affect the overall relationship. Globalization of the world economy raises new challenges that must be dealt with realistically. No single nation can have its "own way" in a global marketplace.

So I do not understand why some in Washington talk about using a "strategy of containment" against China. This is simply not a relevant term. How does one "contain" China? Look at a map. China will project its influence into every country in Asia. Over the last three years, China has overtaken the United States to become the largest trading partner of Japan, South Korea and the entire ASEAN region. Robert Blackwill's comments on India's perspective vis-a-vis China are quite instructive:

India is enormously...