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U.S. President Barack Obama’s vision for better relations with China is based on a time-tested commercial foundation. To enhance his Asia “pivot” strategy and the TransPacific Partnership （TPP） plan， then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially launched the“100，000 Strong” educational exchange initiative for American students to study in China. Beijing reciprocated with 10，000 “Bridge Scholarships” for young Americans to be trained in China. All this takes place simultaneously along with unprecedented financial， trade and investment relations that already exist between the two largest economies in the world.
Historical legacy
With the economic rise of China， the American focus has increasingly been shifting from Atlantic to Pacific affairs. The United States and China are now intrinsically interconnected as importer-exporter and consumer-producer nations. This is the enduring legacy of the old and young republics that mutually benefited each other from their respective westward economic strategies of the ancient Silk Road and the Pacific expansion with the Louisiana Purchase（1803） by President Thomas Jefferson.
With the “go west， young man” spirit， America’s westward development was further activated by Manifest Destiny with the continental expansion from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast. Likewise， the Silk Road expanded westward from the ancient Chinese capital of Xi’an to the Asia Minor and Europe millennia ago. The Middle Kingdom’s trade-for-peace strategy was intended to form the Confucian vision of a “Celestial Empire.” These intelligent designs and traditions still continue with greater sophistication by both countries.
The American republic—even since the Pilgrims and colonists arrived in the New World—searched for a “short cut” to trade with China. With the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition （1804-06）， the United States found its way to the Pacific Northwest to connect with the Middle Kingdom in shorter distance than going around the Cape Horn in Latin America or the Cape Good Hope in Africa. New settlers in the western and northern corridors of America built their own railroad civilization with the development of the Pacific Union and the Northern Pacific railroad systems. The American vision to reach out to the Middle Kingdom has essentially created a new frontier civilization in the Pacific West.
Our founding fathers were also inspired by the Chinese civilization and wanted to develop their own commercial civilization in the Atlantic seaboard. Charles Thomson， secretary of the Continental Congress， wrote that “this country may be improved beyond” what “might have been expected” if we could be “so fortunate as to introduce the industry of the Chinese， their arts of living and improvements in husbandry， as well as their native plants， America might in time become as populous as China， which is allowed to contain more inhabitants than any other country.” Moreover， George Washington imported Chinese plants for his Mount Vernon estate， Thomas Jefferson adapted Chinese architectural designs for his Monticello residence， and Benjamin Franklin used Confucian ideas in his Poor Richard’s Almanack. While creating wealth from China trade， a growing number of rich families from Boston to Charleston flourished with the commercial culture of exporting American ginseng and fur while importing Chinese tea， silk and porcelain.
Pacific dream
Among the policy innovations， three elements of the White House’s Asia policy， the rebalancing strategy （military）， the TPP plan （trade and investment）， and the“100，000 Strong” initiative （educational） are the most salient. These innovations are a gamut of competing foreign policy traditions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton—two philosophical and personal rivalries. Jefferson advocated a more decentralized power at grassroots level with greater democratic governance and religious freedom as opposed to Hamilton who favored a centralized federal government with a national banking system and a strong Navy to protect American trading interests. Both， however， agreed on trade as a force for good and American progress. Encapsulating the two competing traditions， Obama unveiled his “Pacific dream” as a countervailing force to Xi’s “Chinese dream.”
In April 2013， Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry announced the Pacific dream in Tokyo after visiting China. Not unlike the American dream， the Pacific dream for Asian nations is to grow closer together than ever before， not only with each other， but also the United States on social， economic and security matters. Kerry said that “our Pacific dream is to translate our strongest values into an unprecedented security， economic and social cooperation.”
For Obama and Kerry， the Asia-Pacific region is personal as a foreign policy imperative. Obama has an extended family connection to the region and his paternal grandfather served the British Army in China while stationed in Burma during World War II. Secretary John Forbes Kerry’s ancestral wealth traced back to his Bostonian Brahmin family of John Murray Forbes （1813-98）， who accumulated a tremendous amount of treasures from China trade in the 19th century.
With the Chinese investment， the Forbes family empire also built the American transcontinental railroad system with largely Chinese labor and pioneered the westward commercial development in the United States. In his book， Bonds of Enterprise， John Larson describes the Forbes dynasty’s trade and investment partnership with Howqua， the wealthiest man of the Cohong merchants in China. Their friendship and entrepreneurial spirit shifted the budding Sino-American relationship from antebellum merchant capitalism to late 19th-century corporate capitalism—giving rise to big business， technological innovations and the process of government regulations in monopolistic corporate power. These pioneers set apart by destiny guided the American experiment in the pursuit of economic growth and mutual prosperity. As their ancestors had played a leading role in building the new nation and nurturing the Sino-American collaboration， Secretary Kerry has—by his own destiny—begun to discretely revive his family legacy while advancing openly Obama’s Pacific dream.
More than 230 years after inaugurating the Empress of China， the first U.S. merchant ship bound for China， the Pacific dream is a natural follow-up. Xi’s announcement of his Chinese dream stands as a public commitment to rejuvenating China’s glorious past with the revival of its ancient Silk Road through maritime routes.
While the TPP negotiations continue， the two negotiating partners of Japan and Australia recently signed a historic bilateral trade and investment agreement. China aspires to have similar bilateral trade agreements with American TPP-negotiating countries like South Korea. For Beijing， the newly-established Shanghai Free Trade Zone would serve as China’s amiable strategy to welcome American partners. For China， America’s TPP might be a blessing in disguise.
Xi may eventually accept America’s strategic goal of gradual integration of China into the pact， just as President Bill Clinton brought Beijing into the WTO. The Pacific dream is the endgame of this new type of great-power relations， which should result in the historic Sino-American “special” tradefor-peace love affair.
Historical legacy
With the economic rise of China， the American focus has increasingly been shifting from Atlantic to Pacific affairs. The United States and China are now intrinsically interconnected as importer-exporter and consumer-producer nations. This is the enduring legacy of the old and young republics that mutually benefited each other from their respective westward economic strategies of the ancient Silk Road and the Pacific expansion with the Louisiana Purchase（1803） by President Thomas Jefferson.
With the “go west， young man” spirit， America’s westward development was further activated by Manifest Destiny with the continental expansion from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast. Likewise， the Silk Road expanded westward from the ancient Chinese capital of Xi’an to the Asia Minor and Europe millennia ago. The Middle Kingdom’s trade-for-peace strategy was intended to form the Confucian vision of a “Celestial Empire.” These intelligent designs and traditions still continue with greater sophistication by both countries.
The American republic—even since the Pilgrims and colonists arrived in the New World—searched for a “short cut” to trade with China. With the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition （1804-06）， the United States found its way to the Pacific Northwest to connect with the Middle Kingdom in shorter distance than going around the Cape Horn in Latin America or the Cape Good Hope in Africa. New settlers in the western and northern corridors of America built their own railroad civilization with the development of the Pacific Union and the Northern Pacific railroad systems. The American vision to reach out to the Middle Kingdom has essentially created a new frontier civilization in the Pacific West.
Our founding fathers were also inspired by the Chinese civilization and wanted to develop their own commercial civilization in the Atlantic seaboard. Charles Thomson， secretary of the Continental Congress， wrote that “this country may be improved beyond” what “might have been expected” if we could be “so fortunate as to introduce the industry of the Chinese， their arts of living and improvements in husbandry， as well as their native plants， America might in time become as populous as China， which is allowed to contain more inhabitants than any other country.” Moreover， George Washington imported Chinese plants for his Mount Vernon estate， Thomas Jefferson adapted Chinese architectural designs for his Monticello residence， and Benjamin Franklin used Confucian ideas in his Poor Richard’s Almanack. While creating wealth from China trade， a growing number of rich families from Boston to Charleston flourished with the commercial culture of exporting American ginseng and fur while importing Chinese tea， silk and porcelain.
Pacific dream
Among the policy innovations， three elements of the White House’s Asia policy， the rebalancing strategy （military）， the TPP plan （trade and investment）， and the“100，000 Strong” initiative （educational） are the most salient. These innovations are a gamut of competing foreign policy traditions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton—two philosophical and personal rivalries. Jefferson advocated a more decentralized power at grassroots level with greater democratic governance and religious freedom as opposed to Hamilton who favored a centralized federal government with a national banking system and a strong Navy to protect American trading interests. Both， however， agreed on trade as a force for good and American progress. Encapsulating the two competing traditions， Obama unveiled his “Pacific dream” as a countervailing force to Xi’s “Chinese dream.”
In April 2013， Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry announced the Pacific dream in Tokyo after visiting China. Not unlike the American dream， the Pacific dream for Asian nations is to grow closer together than ever before， not only with each other， but also the United States on social， economic and security matters. Kerry said that “our Pacific dream is to translate our strongest values into an unprecedented security， economic and social cooperation.”
For Obama and Kerry， the Asia-Pacific region is personal as a foreign policy imperative. Obama has an extended family connection to the region and his paternal grandfather served the British Army in China while stationed in Burma during World War II. Secretary John Forbes Kerry’s ancestral wealth traced back to his Bostonian Brahmin family of John Murray Forbes （1813-98）， who accumulated a tremendous amount of treasures from China trade in the 19th century.
With the Chinese investment， the Forbes family empire also built the American transcontinental railroad system with largely Chinese labor and pioneered the westward commercial development in the United States. In his book， Bonds of Enterprise， John Larson describes the Forbes dynasty’s trade and investment partnership with Howqua， the wealthiest man of the Cohong merchants in China. Their friendship and entrepreneurial spirit shifted the budding Sino-American relationship from antebellum merchant capitalism to late 19th-century corporate capitalism—giving rise to big business， technological innovations and the process of government regulations in monopolistic corporate power. These pioneers set apart by destiny guided the American experiment in the pursuit of economic growth and mutual prosperity. As their ancestors had played a leading role in building the new nation and nurturing the Sino-American collaboration， Secretary Kerry has—by his own destiny—begun to discretely revive his family legacy while advancing openly Obama’s Pacific dream.
More than 230 years after inaugurating the Empress of China， the first U.S. merchant ship bound for China， the Pacific dream is a natural follow-up. Xi’s announcement of his Chinese dream stands as a public commitment to rejuvenating China’s glorious past with the revival of its ancient Silk Road through maritime routes.
While the TPP negotiations continue， the two negotiating partners of Japan and Australia recently signed a historic bilateral trade and investment agreement. China aspires to have similar bilateral trade agreements with American TPP-negotiating countries like South Korea. For Beijing， the newly-established Shanghai Free Trade Zone would serve as China’s amiable strategy to welcome American partners. For China， America’s TPP might be a blessing in disguise.
Xi may eventually accept America’s strategic goal of gradual integration of China into the pact， just as President Bill Clinton brought Beijing into the WTO. The Pacific dream is the endgame of this new type of great-power relations， which should result in the historic Sino-American “special” tradefor-peace love affair.