Quora: Is the USA or China more trustworthy?

Choi Julian, M.S. from Cornell University

China is a one party system. When China lays down its plans, the government execute it strategically and unanimously. China’s plans are laid out for the next five years, ten years and some even a hundred years. When Deng Xiaoping set out the basic principle of the party, he said: insist on centering economic development for the next hundred years without wavering. That’s a hundred year plan.

When China devised its diplomatic framework in the 1950s, it stayed the same till this day that is mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non aggression, non interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.

When other countries deal with China, they know exactly what China wants and where the bottom lines are. It’s predictable. And they don’t have to worry that years later deals or terms would change because it’s always the same government under the same framework.

The US policies with other countries can change in four to eight years and they can be in totally different directions. What Barack Obama promised to other countries can go into total bust when Trump took the office. Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement thrown in the water. Paris Accord out of the way. Nuclear treaties with Iran tossed out. Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty abandoned. Sanctions are everywhere now not just to China, but to allies and foes all around.

With China, you don’t have to worry about these changes. With the US, you worry about who is going to win the next election and what would hold in the future for the relations with the US even for US allies.

The fact that Belt and Road Initiative is joined by over a hundred countries by now is the living proof that China is widely trusted. They know when China does something, she is committed.

For China’s foreign policy, there is another important element. China practices non-aligned foreign policy. That means China doesn’t form allies. The best you get with China is strategic partner. Forming allies means the enemy of your allies also becomes your enemy.