Group of Two

Last updated

The Group of Two (G-2 or G2) is a hypothetical and an informal grouping made up of the United States of America and People's Republic of China that was first proposed by C. Fred Bergsten . [1] [2] While the original concept had a strong economic focus, more recent iterations have a more all-encompassing focus. [3] This is the result of the concept gaining more traction with members of the Obama Administration and foreign policy establishment who came to recognize the increasing importance of America's relationship with China. Prominent advocates of the grouping include former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, historian Niall Ferguson, former World Bank President Robert Zoellick and former chief economist Justin Yifu Lin.

Contents

As two of the most influential and powerful countries in the world, there have been increasingly strong suggestions by American liberal politicians of creating a G-2 relationship where the United States and China would work out solutions to global problems together, and to prevent another cold war. [4] However, as strategic competition between the two powers has intensified, many have rejected the concept. [5] [6]

History

The concept of a G-2 was first raised by noted economist C. Fred Bergsten in 2005. [3] In 2009, Bergsten made the following arguments for such a relationship:

Zbigniew Brzezinski had been a vocal advocate for the concept. He publicly advanced the notion in Beijing in January 2009 as the two countries celebrated the 30th anniversary of establishing formal diplomatic ties. [8] He views the informal G-2 as helpful in finding solutions to the global financial crisis, climate change (see Politics of global warming), North Korea's nuclear program, Iran's nuclear program, the Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, United Nations peacekeeping, nuclear proliferation, and nuclear disarmament. He called the principle of "harmony" a "mission worthy of the two countries with the most extraordinary potential for shaping our collective future". [9] [10]

Historian Niall Ferguson has also advocated the G-2 concept. He coined the term Chimerica to describe the symbiotic nature of the U.S.-China economic relationship.

Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank, and Justin Yifu Lin, the Bank's former chief economist and senior vice president, have stated that the G-2 is crucial for economic recovery and that the U.S. and China must work together. They state that "without a strong G-2, the G-20 will disappoint". [11]

While widely discussed, the concept of a G-2 has not been fully defined. According to Brzezinski, G-2 described the current realities, while for former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, a G-2 could emerge in the foreseeable future. [8] Miliband proposes EU integration as a means to create a potential G-3 that consists of the United States, China and the European Union.

Former President Barack Obama and former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been very supportive of good relations between the two countries and more cooperation on more issues more often. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has stated that U.S.–China relationship should be "taken to a new level". Some experts have disagreed with the effectiveness of a G-2. [12] However, Clinton has said that there is no G-2. [13]

In 2023, it was reported by Nikkei Asia that Xi Jinping drew on the idea of G-2 as a way to manage his country's relations with the U.S. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

India, officially the Republic of India, has full diplomatic relations with 201 states, including Palestine, the Holy See, and Niue. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is the government agency responsible for the conduct of foreign relations of India. With the world's third largest military expenditure, second largest armed force, fifth largest economy by GDP nominal rates and third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, India is a prominent regional power and a rising superpower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zbigniew Brzezinski</span> Polish-American diplomat and political scientist (1928–2017)

Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński, known as Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. As a scholar, Brzezinski belonged to the realist school of international relations, standing in the geopolitical tradition of Halford Mackinder and Nicholas J. Spykman, while elements of liberal idealism have also been identified in his outlook. Brzezinski was the primary organizer of The Trilateral Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">China–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

The relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA) has been complex and at times contentious since the establishment of the PRC and the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan in 1949. Since the normalization of relations in the 1970s, the US–China relationship has been marked by numerous perennial disputes including the political status of Taiwan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and more recently the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. They have significant economic ties and are significantly intertwined, yet they also have a global hegemonic great power rivalry. As of 2023, China and the United States are the world's second-largest and largest economies by nominal GDP, as well as the largest and second-largest economies by GDP (PPP) respectively. Collectively, they account for 44.2% of the global nominal GDP, and 34.7% of global PPP-adjusted GDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great power</span> Nation that has great political, social, and economic influence on a global scale

A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause middle or small powers to consider the great powers' opinions before taking actions of their own. International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities, spatial aspects, and status dimensions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle power</span> Type of state

In international relations, a middle power is a sovereign state that is not a great power nor a superpower, but still has large or moderate influence and international recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Zoellick</span> 11th President of the World Bank Group

Robert Bruce Zoellick is an American public official and lawyer who was the 11th president of the World Bank Group, a position he held from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2012. He was previously a managing director of Goldman Sachs, United States Deputy Secretary of State and U.S. Trade Representative, from February 7, 2001, until February 22, 2005. Zoellick has been a senior fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs since ending his term with the World Bank. He is currently a Senior Counselor at Brunswick Group.

Geostrategy, a subfield of geopolitics, is a type of foreign policy guided principally by geographical factors as they inform, constrain, or affect political and military planning. As with all strategies, geostrategy is concerned with matching means to ends Strategy is as intertwined with geography as geography is with nationhood, or as Colin S. Gray and Geoffrey Sloan state it, "[geography is] the mother of strategy."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linkage (policy)</span> Cold War-era American policy

Linkage was a foreign policy that was pursued by the United States and championed by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in the 1970s détente, during the Cold War. The policy aimed to persuade the Soviet Union to co-operate in restraining revolutions in the Third World in return for concessions in nuclear and economic fields. Soviet interventions occurred in various conflicts such as the Angolan Civil War, the Mozambican Civil War, and the Ogaden War, while many revolutions still occurred in Third World countries, undermining the policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Fred Bergsten</span> American economist (born 1941)

C. Fred Bergsten is an American economist, author, think tank entrepreneur, and policy adviser. He has served as assistant for international economic affairs to Henry Kissinger within the National Security Council and as assistant secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He was the founding director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, until 2006 the Institute for International Economics, which he established in 1981 and led through 2012. In addition to his academic work, he has been an influential public commentator and advisor to the American and global economic policy community, writing for influential periodicals such as Foreign Affairs magazine and by writing numerous books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">India–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Relations between India and the United States date back to India's independence movement and have continued well after independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Currently, India and the United States enjoy close relations and have deepened collaboration on issues such as counterterrorism and countering Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The U.S.-China Senior Dialogue was a regular, high-level strategic dialogue between the United States and the People's Republic of China. The Senior Dialogue has been upgraded to the strategic track of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue in the Obama administration and will be headed by Hillary Clinton and Dai Bingguo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potential superpower</span> Entity speculated to become a superpower

A potential superpower is a state or other polity that is speculated to be or have the potential to become a superpower, a state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale through economic, military, technological, political, and/or cultural means.

Bates Gill is an American international relations scholar specialized in Chinese foreign policy and politics, currently serving as executive director of Asia Society's Center for China Analysis. He formerly was Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The U.S.–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) was a high-level dialogue for the United States and China to discuss a wide range of regional and global strategic and economic issues between both countries. The establishment of the S&ED was announced on April 1, 2009, by U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao. The upgraded mechanism replaced the former Senior Dialogue and Strategic Economic Dialogue started under the George W. Bush administration. High-level representatives of both countries and their delegations will met annually at capitals alternating between the two countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimerica</span> Term describing economic relations between China and the US

Chimerica is a neologism and portmanteau coined by Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick describing the symbiotic relationship between China and the United States, with incidental reference to the legendary chimera. Though the term is largely in reference to economics, there is also a political element.

U.S. President Barack Obama's East Asia Strategy (2009–2017), also known as the Pivot to Asia, represented a significant shift in the foreign policy of the United States since the 2010s. It shifted the country's focus away from the Middle Eastern and European sphere and allowed it to invest heavily and build relationships in East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, especially countries which are in close proximity to the People's Republic of China (PRC) either economically, geographically or politically to counter its rise as a rival superpower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek J. Mitchell</span> American diplomat (born 1964)

Derek James Mitchell is an American diplomat with extensive experience in Asia policy. He was appointed by President Barack Obama as the first special representative and policy coordinator for Burma with rank of ambassador, and was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on October 2, 2011. On June 29, 2012, the U.S. Senate confirmed him as the new United States Ambassador to Burma. On September 4, 2018, Mitchell succeeded Kenneth Wollack as president of the National Democratic Institute, a position he served until September 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan–United States military relations</span> Military relations between Pakistan and the United States

The military relations between Pakistan and the United States have been present since the two established diplomatic relations in 1947. The United States and Pakistan's military have historically close ties and it was once called "America's most allied ally in Asia" by Dwight D. Eisenhower, reflecting shared interests in security and stability in South Asia, Central Asia as well as in regions covering Eastern Europe.

United States–China security cooperation refers to various projects, combined operations, communications, official dialogues, joint exchanges, and joint exercises, between agencies, groups, and individuals within the government of United States and the People's Republic of China, in a number of areas pertaining to global security, defense policy, and various forms of military and security cooperation.

The History of Indian foreign policy refers to the foreign relations of modern India post-independence, that is the Dominion of India (from 1947 to 1950) and the Republic of India (from 1950 onwards).

References

  1. ↑ Loungani, Prakash (March 2012). "An American Globalist". Finance & Development. 49 (1): 5.
  2. ↑ Bergsten, C. Fred (July–August 2008). "A Partnership of Equals: How Washington Should Respond to China's Economic Challenge". Foreign Affairs. 87 (4). Council on Foreign Relations: 57–69.
  3. 1 2 Bergsten, C. Fred (2009-09-01). "Two's Company". Foreign Affairs. 88 (September/October 2009). Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  4. ↑ Boston Study Group on Middle East Peace (2009-05-14). "Foreign Policy Association: Resource Library: Viewpoints: Moving the G-2 Forward". Fpa.org. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  5. ↑ Minghao, Zhao (2019). "Is a New Cold War Inevitable? Chinese Perspectives on US–China Strategic Competition". The Chinese Journal of International Politics. 12 (3): 371–394. doi: 10.1093/cjip/poz010 .
  6. 1 2 Katsuji, Nakazawa. "Analysis: After a decade, Xi floats 'G2' world with U.S. again". Nikkei Asia.
  7. ↑ "Testimony: The United States–China Economic Relationship and the Strategic and Economic Dialogue". Iie.com. Archived from the original on 2010-06-24. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  8. 1 2 "Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business". Atimes.com. 2009-05-29. Archived from the original on 2009-05-31. Retrieved 2010-06-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ↑ Wong, Edward (2009-01-02). "Former Carter adviser calls for a 'G-2' between U.S. and China". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ "The Group of Two that could change the world". Financial Times. 2009-01-13. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  11. ↑ Zoellick, Robert B.; Lin, Justin Yifu (2009-03-06). "Recovery: A Job for China and the U.S." The Washington Post . Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  12. ↑ Economy, Elizabeth C.; Segal, Adam (2009-05-01). "The G-2 Mirage". Foreign Affairs. 88 (May/June 2009). Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  13. ↑ Landler, Mark (14 January 2011). "U.S. Is Not Trying to Contain China, Clinton Says". The New York Times . Retrieved 15 June 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.