Americans need to work hard at cooperating with China in the new, multi-polar world. Such a cooperative relationship will not come easily, especially in the world of rampant demagoguery and twitter takedowns.  But even putting aside our foremost concerns with international security (e.g. nuclear arms control) and the global climate, the future of the world economy and effective responses to humanitarian crises like pandemic flu also completely depend on a solid, cooperative relationship between Washington and Beijing.

Lyle J. Goldstein is Research Professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the United States Naval War College in Newport, RI. In addition to Chinese, he also speaks Russian and he is also an affiliate of the new Russia Maritime Studies Institute (RMSI) at Naval War College. You can reach him at [email protected]. The opinions in his columns are entirely his own and do not reflect the official assessments of the U.S. Navy or any other agency of the U.S. government.