by Miao Xiaojuan
BOSTON, United States, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The White House must seek out expert opinion on why and how to engage China, said Ezra Vogel, professor emeritus at Harvard University and a China scholar.
"Many of those who speak out in the media about China are not offering a meaningful policy for the United States. U.S. politicians should turn to experts as they deal with such a complex relationship," 89-year-old Vogel told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Vogel, author of "Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China", once lived in south China's Guangdong province a total of a year and has visited China every year since the late 1980s. To him, most politicians in Washington D.C. have little understanding of China and have little interest in understanding what is going on in China.
According to Vogel, a complete disconnect from China - as some in the current U.S. administration are calling for - would be impossible given the depth of collaboration between the Chinese and the Americans in business, academics and tourism.
"We are already deeply intertwined. An effort to decouple will cause confusion but in the end, given transportation and communication and creativity of businesses, decoupling is impossible," he added.
Before 1978 no one believed China would grow this fast, he said. "The United States has been the dominant power in the world for decades, and now it must adjust to a rising power of comparable economic strength."
Vogel said he believes that the inter-connected world requires China and the United States to work together. He co-authored an open letter to the U.S. president entitled "China is not an enemy" published in The Washington Post in early July. The letter was signed by more than 100 American academics, foreign policy experts, military and business leaders.
Although the letter did not elicit any response from the White House, it received plenty of attention among the public.
He acknowledged that the relationship between China and the United States is tense, but added that he believes both Chinese and American officials should work together to pursue their common interests.
"There is a real danger of serious frictions," and it is very important for all who care about good relations with China to do what they can to improve them, said Vogel, stressing that a stable, constructive relationship is vital to both the world's two largest economies and the rest of the world.
Complex issues such as trade, finance, technology and security all require balanced, long-term and educated dialogue, he added.
(Xinhua correspondents Guo Peiran and Xie E in Boston also contributed to the story.)
