The US Push for China to Share More Global Burdens

When Chinese leader Xi Jinping took to the stage before the world’s corporate titans, government officials, and influencers at Davos in 2017, the world order suddenly seemed to be turned on its head. It had been only weeks since then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which Washington had been instrumental in developing, and the White House was driving forward an agenda that was less focused on working closely with long-standing partners.

Meanwhile, the Chinese president seemingly was taking on the role of a global statesman at the Swiss conference, declaring, “We must remain committed to developing global free trade and investment, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation through opening-up and say no to protectionism.” He added, “All countries enjoy the right to development. At the same time, they should view their own interests in a broader context and refrain from pursuing them at the expense of others.”

Six years later, China’s presence on the international stage has only increased, expanding well beyond the economic and military spheres and into the diplomatic arena. China’s foray as a bridge-builder was most strikingly in display as it brokered a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore relations between the two countries. The depth and lasting impact of the agreement may be debatable, but it made clear that U.S. retrenchment from the Middle East created a void that Beijing has been quick to fill. Washington can no longer claim to be the sole power perceived as a regional broker.

China’s presence in areas hitherto neglected by the United States has also come into play in the Pacific Islands, as Beijing has stepped up efforts to expand its partnership into the area beyond economic assistance and into military ties, as has been the case in Solomon Islands.

Yet Washington’s response to China’s growing presence too has been evolving. As the shock of Xi’s comments in Davos six years ago dissipates, there is a growing acknowledgement of the comprehensive challenge that China poses to the United States as an economic and security threat. Nowhere is that recognition as clear as it is on Capitol Hill, where an anti-China stance is one of the very few issues that has brought legislators from both sides of the political aisle to work together. Democrats and Republicans have put together massive financial packages amid concerns about Chinese competition. Neither the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act to advance technological competitiveness and the semiconductor industry in particular, nor the $500 billion Inflation Reduction Act to jump-start green technology could have been passed without the fear of losing to China without the investments.

But there is also a growing movement that expects China’s behavior to change. That change isn’t about adopting the international liberal order per se, but it is more about China matching its actions to its rhetoric of global statesmanship. Most recently, the Biden administration’s special environmental envoy and former Secretary of State John Kerry publicly declared at the latest G-7 climate meeting that as the world’s biggest carbon emitter, China needs to do more to help smaller countries that are vulnerable to climate change by supporting them financially. In particular, Kerry pressed for China to contribute to the global climate fund that was agreed upon in principle at the latest U..N climate summit in Egypt last November.

Meanwhile, the international community is increasing pressure on China to provide debt relief by assisting in debt restructuring, even though as the biggest bilateral creditor to developing countries to the tune of $138 billion over the past decade, it would lose out financially on such a plan. The April IMF meetings brought together both the IMF and the World Bank in agreement to share information about the countries in financial crisis and provide low-interest loans as well as grants. The next step would be for China to rework its loans to indebted countries together with other major lenders or even write them off, though China would prefer to roll over the debt payments.

The pressure on China to act as a global statesman by making financial sacrifices is a tall order, however, and one that could certainly lead to pushback from Chinese investors back home. Meanwhile, incentivizing China to take concrete actions toward addressing climate change by working together with the international community, and to coordinate efforts to address the debt issues of the Global South will remain a challenge.

Still, the United States will likely continue to argue the need for China to go beyond its rhetoric and emerge as a global powerhouse that can take concrete steps to address cross-border concerns.