US-China relations: like an arranged marriage - Arthur Kroeber

Arthur Kroeber

China and the US start today annual high-profile talks in Beijing in an effort to mend their relations. In some ways the relations between both countries looks like an arranged marriage, says economist Arthur Kroeber to NPR. Relationship status? It's complicated.

NPR:

"You might want to think of the US China relationship as kind of like an arranged marriage," says Arthur Kroeber, a Beijing-based economist and author of China's Economy: What You Need to Know. 

"They're not in it because they fell in with each other, they're in it because forces beyond them made it happen and now they're stuck with each other and now they have to deal with it," Kroeber says.... 

Shared interests are keeping the lines of communication going, even if no specific outcomes are expected in this set of dialogues. And outcomes aren't the point, Kroeber says, of the dialogues. Just working through the tough stuff can considered progress. "It's a lot like marriage counseling," Kroeber says. 

Relationship status? It's complicated.

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