The Obama-Xi Summit: Three Essential Messages from Washington

Abstract

In mid-November, U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing in what has been billed as a sequel to their June 2013 gathering in southern California. The leaders will have the opportunity to take stock of where the relationship is today and chart the course forward. Given this extraordinary opportunity for an open exchange of each other’s interests and intentions, President Obama should raise the following three items for discussion in Beijing: (i) Express the desire to move away from big conceptual frameworks toward practical cooperation and the management of differences; (ii) engage President Xi in a conversation about how China perceives the “status quo” in Asia; and (iii) Clarify that China’s assertiveness in East Asia is challenging vital national interests of the United States.

About the Author

Dr Ely Ratner is Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Prior to joining CNAS he served on the China Desk at the State Department as the lead political officer covering China’s external relations in Asia. He has also worked as an Associate Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation and as a Professional Staff Member on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Dr Ratner has testified as an expert witness on Asian security affairs before the U.S. Congress and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. His commentary and research have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Quarterly, The National Interest, Journal of Conflict Resolution, International Studies Quarterly and Chinese Journal of International Politics, among others. He received his PhD in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley and his BA from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.