The U.S. and China: A New Kind of Great Power Relationship?

Last weekend’s meeting between Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping at the former Annenberg Estate in California presented the two leaders with an opportunity to address a wide range of pressing issues, from flash points in the Korean peninsula to climate change and the global economy. To China’s leaders, this meeting contributed to the development of a “new kind of great power relationship,” a concept that has been heavily promoted in recent months in state media and official pronouncements.

On June 12, the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings hosted Madame Fu Ying, the spokeswoman for the China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) and the chair of the NPC’s Foreign Affairs Committee. As an experienced career diplomat and former vice minister of Foreign Affairs, and now the spokesperson for China’s national legislature, Ambassador Fu has played a unique role in both conducting foreign policy and explaining national policies to Chinese and foreign media. In her comments, she discussed the U.S.-China relationship in the wake of the Annenberg meeting and offer a Chinese perspective on the direction of U.S.-China relations. Senior Fellow Jonathan D. Pollack, director of the John L. Thornton China Center, gave introductory remarks.