Research On The Sino-US Economic Symbiotic Relations And Its Adjustment

Under the influence of economic globalization and international division of labor, a symbiosis has been gradually formed between China and the US in the economic realm since the late1970s. This dissertation argues that the Sino-US economic symbiosis is a relatively stable and mutually beneficial relationship. China and the US, as two symbiotic units in this relationship, have begun to conduct the bilateral economic activities following the principle of egoism rather than altruism, which were in accordance with existing international economic orders, rules and practices. The formation of the symbiosis is a self-organizing process, which is an inevitable economic connection between China and the US due to the inner necessities of economic development for both countries. The maintenance requirement of the symbiotic relationship constantly produces new energy to promote the evolution of the symbiotic system.The Sino-US economic symbiosis, classified by the symbiotic behavior patterns, is a typical asymmetric mutualism. The US occupies the dominant position in both trade and capital realms. The occurrence, development and pattern of the Sino-US economic symbiosis are mainly determined by three mechanisms: environmental induction mechanism, endogenous power mechanism and symbiotic damping mechanism. Through my research on the symbiotic mechanisms, I argue that two internal factors determine the endogenous vitality of Sino-US economic symbiosis:one factor is the complementation of the two countries in terms of the stage of economic development, industrial structure and comparative advantage; the other is that the international monetary system has the US dollars as the dominant currency. External environment and the nature of the symbiotic interface also play important roles in the bilateral economic symbiosis.On the one hand Sino-US economic symbiosis has brought about the economic prosperity of China and the US as well as the growth of the world economy; but on the other hand it has led to the problem of economic imbalances. Apparently, the Sino-US economic imbalance exhibits the phenomena of bilateral trade deficit, savings rate difference and investment disproportion. In essence, the Sino-US economic imbalance is the external display of the two countries’internal economic disequilibrium, which is boosted by the asymmetry of Sino-US economic symbiosis. As a result, the Sino-US economic symbiosis had to be adjusted especially after the international financial crisis because of the imbalanced relationship of two countries.Since after the crisis, China and the US have been conducting substantial adjustments with different economic strategies, concerning essentially with transformation of the patterns of economic development.The adjustments of China’s economic strategies mainly include five aspects: First, the strategy of expanding domestic demand; Second, the strategy of upgrading the industrial structure; Third, the strategy of coordinating regional development; Fourth, the strategy of sustainable development; Fifth, the more proactive opening-up strategy. The adjustments of the US economic strategies are as follows:re-industrialization strategy, total exports doubled strategy, new energy strategy, and Asia-Pacific development strategy.The strategies of the US have the characteristics of initiatives, aiming to enhance the economic control mechanism. As China is concerned, its strategy measures adaptive characteristics, aiming to expand the economic development space.Based on the research on a series of economic indicators, this dissertation finds out that the interdependency of the Sino-US economic symbiosis has not been weakened after above-mentioned adjustments. Due to the endogenous vitality of the symbiosis is not fundamentally changed, the development of the Sino-US economic symbiosis will continue to be vibrant for the foreseeable future. It is the asymmetry of the symbiosis that leads to the Sino-US economic imbalances, but it is not the symbiosis itself. The development strategy adjustments carried out by the two countries would be conductive to correct this asymmetry. However, this correction would be more embodied in trade sphere rather than in capital sphere because of the supremacy of the US dollars in the current international monetary system. In addition to the partial correction of the asymmetry, the influence of the economic development strategy adjustment is mainly manifested in two aspects: one is their cooperation and competition in the field of new energy and the other is the changes of symbiotic environment in the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation. This indicates that China and the US have common interests with the more opportunities for cooperation. But the relationship between them will be more complicated with increasing competition as well. As the symbiotic evolution become more symmetric, the competition between the symbiotic units will be more intensified, although it also means the increasing interdependence between both units. Once one side in the intensified competition challenges the bottom line of the other side, the symbiosis may be degraded or even destructed.The more the interdependence is, the greater exiting cost each side has. Given the asymmetric relationship in the symbiosis, China depends more on the US, thus China’s exiting cost is higher according to the complex interdependence theory. The healthy development of the Sino-US economic symbiosis conforms to the common interests of the two countries, which is also an important premise of China’s stable and sustainable development. In order to promote the healthy development of the Sino-US economic symbiosis, the following strategies are important for China:first, continue to correct the asymmetry of the symbiosis; second, strengthen economic policy coordination of the two countries; third, establish the Sino-US normalized management mechanism to foster the mutual trust.