Some people say that Sino-US relations are complicated, because China and the United States are neither friends nor enemies. There are good cooperation and conflicts of interest between China and the United States. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to use neither enemies nor friends. Because it is difficult to simply explain Sino-US relations, it is considered complicated. In fact, the relationship between big powers is not complicated, it is very simple, that is, they all want to obtain the greatest strategic interests in the world, and they are trying their best to contain each other for their own greatest strategic interests.

Are China and the United States enemies or friends?

Is it the enemy? I'm afraid not, because China and the United States share too many strategic interests. Anti-Soviet then, now anti-terrorism, China and the United States have * * * strategic interests. As two influential countries in the world, China and the United States share the same strategic interests on international issues such as climate, energy, nuclear issues, regional stability and international stability. In terms of economic development, China and the United States have strong economic complementarities and close economic relations, and cooperation and interests outweigh differences. If they are enemies, only confrontation and no cooperation, that is, cooperation and common interests, then China and the United States should not be called enemies.

Are you friends? I'm afraid not. Although there are many similar interests and cooperation between China and the United States, the ultimate strategic goals and different ideologies of China and the United States determine that China and the United States cannot become friends. The United States is the world hegemon, and its strategic goal is to maintain its hegemonic position in the world. China is a developed country, and China's ultimate strategic goal is to become one of the world powers. The strength of China itself is a challenge to the hegemonic position of the United States. From this perspective, China and the United States must have a strategic collision and cannot be friends.

Is it a constructive strategic partnership? Not exactly. There is cooperation between China and the United States, but it does not make it a strategic partner, no matter what noun is added before this partner. There should be no confrontation between partners, at least there should be no major strategic differences. But now China and the United States do have major strategic differences in many aspects, and the strategic collision between China and the United States is still fierce. Therefore, it cannot be called a constructive partnership.

Is sino-us relations containment and anti-containment? On the surface, there is a tendency in this regard, but it is not that simple. The United States should safeguard its own global strategic interests, while China should strive for its own global strategic interests. For their own interests, it is understandable to do things that are not conducive to each other, and each has its own reasons. From the perspective of strategic hegemony, China and the United States are indeed a relationship of containment and anti-containment. But at present, there are too many strategic interests in common between China and the United States. At least China is useful to the United States. While containing the development of China, the United States has also harmed its own interests. At present, China poses a great challenge to the United States. Without China, there would be other countries challenging the American strategy. From the perspective of dominating the world, the United States will target the whole world, and it is impossible and powerless for the United States to contain the development of the whole world. Russia, India and other countries also have ambitions to compete for world hegemony. Even America's allies, Europe and Japan, do not want to belong to the United States alone. These countries are also striving for their own strategic interests and trying to get rid of the control and influence of the United States.

From the above point of view, it seems that Sino-US relations are difficult to locate and characterize, that is to say, they are complicated, and on the surface, they are. However, to be simple, it is really simple, that is, no matter whether China and the United States cooperate or confront each other, there is only one ultimate goal, and that is to maximize their respective interests. Simply put, Sino-US relations are a kind of interest relationship.

China and the United States cooperate because cooperation can benefit both sides, which is a cooperation of interests. The reason why China and the United States confront each other is because both sides have the intention of encroaching on each other's strategic interests, which is a kind of "competition" of interests. In other words, there is also cooperation and competition between China and the United States. Cooperation and competition are the most commonly used words in business, which is the most important rule in business war. In other words, the relationship between China and the United States is a simple relationship of cooperation and competition. Because cooperation and competition are opposites, it seems inaccurate to use this word to describe Sino-US relations. Cooperation and competition are two contradictory aspects, and it is difficult to unify them. Both cooperation and competition between China and the United States are generally based on their own interests. Since the key point of Sino-US relations is interests, the "stakeholders" proposed by the United States are indeed the most relevant. Besides, it is really hard to find words to describe the current Sino-US relations.