2014 ends on positive note for US, China

The year ends, experts see huge potential in China-US relations, but thorny issues ranging from cyber security and maritime disputes to arms sales to Taiwan stand in the way of improving the complex relationship.

For observers who have witnessed the often bumpy and sometimes roller coaster rides in the 35 years of diplomatic ties between China and the United States, many applauded that the increasingly complex relationship ended in 2014 on a positive note.

The mood looked somewhat somber in the first half of 2014. Headlines were dominated by heightened tensions over maritime territorial disputes in the South and East China seas and disputes in the cyber domain.

That mood started to lighten up in the second half, especially after US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing in November to announce a long list of cooperative agreements from carbon reduction to visa extension.

"President Obama's visit to China and attending the APEC leaders' summit in Beijing has pushed the bilateral relationship to a climax," said Cheng Li, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

Shen Dingli, a professor and associate dean at the Institute of International Studies of Shanghai-based Fudan University, agreed. He described the Xi-Obama summit and the release of their joint statement on climate change, a bilateral notification mechanism on major military actions and a code of conduct for military encounters on the high sea as highlights of China-US relations in 2014.

Cyber security

To Shen, the low point in 2014 was in cyber security, in particular when the US Justice Department announced on May 19 the indictment of five Chinese People's Liberation Army officers for alledged cyber espionage against US corporations for commercial advantage.

While many observers in both China and the US have criticized the Justice Department's move as unconducive to the dialogue on cyber security, the Chinese government protested against what it called groundless accusations and demanded the US revoke the charges. The Chinese also suspended the bilateral working group on cyber security set up in 2013 to tackle the growing challenge in cyber space.

The US has in the past two years revved up its accusation against the Chinese government of sponsoring cyber theft of US corporate secrets, charges that China has denied.

China has voiced deep concern over revelations made by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden since June 2013 about the widespread surveillance conducted by NSA against the Chinese government, businesses and universities.

Months after the working group on cyber security was suspended, Lu Wei, minister of China's State Internet Information Office, visited the US in early December to engage in a dialogue with US officials and industrial leaders, including Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment Catherine Novelli and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

To Cheng Li of Brookings, the two countries must resolve the cyber security issue. "It's unimaginable if we don't find a way out," he warned.

Li described China-US cooperation in cyber security as extremely important because of the special features of attacks on that front. "There is a huge advantage for one side to take pre-emptive strike; it is often hard to know where the attack comes from, probably from just a lone wolf; and the consequences of such attacks could also be unimaginable," he said.