A Study On Sources Of China-U.S. Strategic Mutual Suspicion

First of all, this paper proposes the concept of strategic mutual suspicion whichcan be expressed as: according to their own internal situation and external situation,state actors mutually suspect that the opponents may damage their own vital nationalinterests when achieving major directional goals in a period. Such suspicion consistsof two parts: one is the suspicion of a certain strategy; the other is the suspicion of acertain country. Then through the view of trustful analysis on offensive realismtheory, power transition theory, clash of civilizations theory, this paper explores thetrustful logic in international relations.Secondly, this paper structurally analyzes the sources of Sino-US strategicmutual suspicion through system level, unit interaction level, unit level. In systemlevel, the anarchy, the existence of nuclear weapons, international political culturebased on individualistic interpersonal status are the sources of China-US strategicmutual suspicion. In unit interaction level, structural contradictions between twocountries, the negative public opinion in both two countries especially in the UnitedStates, lack of mutual trustful basis, conflict of interests in many levels are the sourcesof strategic mutual suspicion between two countries. In the unit level, the reputation,performance, accountability of two countries and the impact of these factors on theother side, make it lack of trustful cognitive basis between the two countries.Finally, this paper draws a certain path to get rid of Sino-US strategic mutualsuspicion by analyzing the sources of China-US strategic mutual suspicion. First, bothsides should avoid examining bilateral relations with Cold War mentality. Secondly,the United States should stop politicizing economic and trade issues between the twosides.Thirdly, the United States should stop the unfriendly actions towards China inthe military field. Finally, China should deepen her ability of response.