In an article published in the latest issue of World Affairs, a journal controlled by the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Jisi, President of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University, observed that a clash of civilisations was at the heart of the bitter geostrategic competition between the world’s top two economies. He said compared to trade frictions and the shifting of the power balance in favour of China, incompatible political values had become the biggest contributing factor to the tough challenges facing Sino-US relations. Wang Jisi wrote “Forty years ago, parallel security interests had overcome the barriers posed by vexing problems such as Taiwan and led to the normalisation of diplomatic ties and subsequently China’s reform and opening up had helped expand common economic interests immensely. However, without the support of shared value systems, such common interests could not be consolidated or enhanced, especially when people with divergent values have vastly different definitions of their national interests." Wang Jisi said although there were hopes from both sides that more economic cooperation and diplomatic, cultural and social exchanges could transcend the ideological barriers and further strategic trust, things were moving in the opposite direction. “Just as China has steadily integrated into the international community economically and socially, the clash of our value systems has become more acute than ever." He said “It’s predictable that the conflicting value systems between China and the US will lead to greater challenges for bilateral cooperation, and the danger of lasting, partial confrontation does exist.” He urged China’s top leaders to set aside ideological differences with their American counterparts and take steps to strengthen common interests and prevent any further deterioration of ties. “We should pay adequate attention to the trend that the two countries are drifting apart over our value systems and try to contain political differences by deepening reform and opening up."
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