Chinese President Hu Jintao begins a three-day state visit today in Washington D.C. Relations between the U.S. and China are at a “critical juncture,” according to the Obama administration, which hopes to deepen its economic and security ties with Asia’s emerging superpower. There’s a laundry list of hot button topics, which might be on the table: China’s control over their currency, the country’s tacit support for North Korea, growing problems with software piracy, normalization of military relations, climate change, energy consumption – and of course, human rights. Distrust lingers on both sides – so what can we hope for from this meeting of superpowers? Will this visit, Jintao’s first during Obama’s tenure, foster greater cooperation? What should the national priorities be in the U.S. relationship with China?
Guest:
Ed Paisley, Vice President for Editorial at the Center for American Progress
Gary Schmitt, Director of Advanced Strategic Studies, American Enterprise Institute (AEI); editor & contributing author, The Rise of China (Encounter Books, 2009)
Susan Shirk, Director, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and Professor of China and Pacific Relations at University of California San Diego