China's rise creates opportunities, says U.S. scholar

CHINA's rise does not necessarily threaten the U.S. interests but creates opportunities for more trade between the both sides, Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan (UM), said here on Saturday.

The trouble here is there's still an emotional perception that if CHINA rises, the United States will suffer, Inglehart told Xinhua in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing 2019 Michigan CHINA Forum. "That should be not true."

Inglehart, who is also an American Academy of Arts and Sciences member, said he remained positive about the ongoing trade negotiations between CHINA and the United States, although he did not know what's going to happen given the complicated details.

"Basically I'm optimistic because of the fact that both sides will be way better off cooperating," he told Xinhua. "A trade war is going to hurt both sides."

Inglehart held that there are many areas for the two countries to cooperate. "The world has enough poverty and problems that no one country is able to solve them all," he said.

He added that the United States and CHINA could be partners in helping develop their own economies by helping evolve the world as a whole. "Both countries I think are interested in doing so and they have an interest in doing so. Countries with desperate people do dangerous things and I think a prosperous, secure world is in the interest of both."

In the realm of environment, Inglehart said he is "pleased to see CHINA is giving serious attention to solar energy and fighting pollution. The two biggest economic powers have one big interest in cooperating on this."

Environmental protection is a huge challenge but is soluble, said Inglehart. He believed maintaining and developing a prosperous and secure world is a challenge big enough for both sides. "I think CHINA and the United States have a huge common interest in it."

CHINA and the United States also have a bigger interest in cooperating to ensure the stability and peace of the world, Inglehart added.

Despite the rain and all the inconveniences, the spring is coming, he said, looking outside the window at the UM campus enveloped in the rain on this late March day.