FACES beijing: competitors and collaborators

FACES is about China-US relations. It is the underlying center topic in all seminars, speeches and talks. And even though I do not fully understand about the details (sometimes a single word) of any topic, I identify one common assumption in all the events. And this finding not only reshapes my view of China-US relations, but also the human relations in general.

Before FACES, I generally agreed with the statement that every nation cares about their own interest. And because of the limited space and resources, all nations are ultimately competitors. But in Trade Session, almost every speaker talks about the interdependence of China and US in economy; in Diplomacy Session, almost every speaker talks about the cooperation between China-US in solving regional and global crises; in Research Session, almost every speaker talks about the collaborations between China-US in scientific researches on space, life science and materials. All of these bring out the final underlying assumption: nations have common interests. The common interests will not become clear if one only see problems from the perspective of one country. But they might become obvious when one view problems in a GLOBAL perspective. 'Global' is not a big hollow word. It means that one nation consumes products and services of other nations; it means that the bankrupt of one nation's economy will affect other nations'; it means that the pollution of one nation will affect other nations as well; it also means that the unrest of one nation will make many nations unsafe. The interdependence among nations calls for the collaboration. Therefore, though they might be ultimately competitors, they will also be collaborators all along the way.

If we also see a person as an entity of interests, it is easy to extend this argument of nations to personal level through an analogy (though might be a false analogy). Nations have interests and common interests; so do individuals. If one only sees things from his own perspective, he tends to compete against every one and easily become narrow-minded. Seeing things from other's perspective and identify the common interests are the equivalent of the GLOBAL view in personal level.