Summary
Ingrid d'Hooghe
China en de Verenigde Staten: partners of concurrenten
Ingrid d'Hooghe analyses the current state of affairs in Chinese-American relations. Over the past two years, these relations have undoubtedly improved, but the observation of this cooperation does not mean to say that the countries are no longer strategic competitors. Mutual distrust and different and often clashing strategic interests still underlie the relationship. Three issues are dominating the bilateral agenda: Taiwan, the North-Korean nuclear programme and trade affairs. For the moment, various mutual interests ensure a fairly constructive co-operation on these issues, but looking at Chinese and American long-term interests and ambitions with regard to influence in the Asian region one can easily detect many potential conflicts just below the surface.