U.S.-China relations will determine international politics in the 21st century and the two nations will end up locked in a long-term cooperation, experts predicted here Thursday. The predictions came in lectures in Seoul by David Lampton, the director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Wang Jisi, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University.

In his lecture celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Kwanhun Club, a gathering of senior journalists, Wang said the U.S.' “hard” power -- read its military might -- is so strong that China can never match it. Yet with rapid progress, China's “soft” or economic and cultural power is nearly the equal of the U.S.’ Meanwhile, Lampton said in a lecture organized by the Asia Foundation that China and the U.S. will cooperate as their political and economic relations become ever closer, reducing the danger of head-on conflict between the two nations. The following is the gist of their lectures.

Wang Jisi, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University(second from left), lectures to the Kwanhun Club at the Seoul Press Center on Thursday.

Wang Jisi: Complex relations

When the U.S. launched its “war on terror,” it did not view China as a main strategic competitor. With deepening economic interdependence between the two countries, U.S. demand for Chinese goods has grown significantly. In setting global strategies, security is now top for the Bush administration and the economy next. Democracy and human rights receive much less actual attention, which naturally reduces U.S. pressure on China. However the U.S. cannot look happily on the emergence of China. It keeps a close guard against the expansion of China's military power and political influence. Ultimately, interdependence and cooperation between the two nations will deepen. But bilateral ties in the foreseeable future will not be a simple question of “friend or foe” but rather one of mutual checks and mutual reliance.

David Lampton: Focus on China's economic and brain power

Among China’s military, economic and brain power, the U.S. tends to put too much focus on the military aspect, which is in reality limited and exerted mainly as a diplomatic means. The focus should instead be on the other two. China is seeing an increase in skilled workers and massively growing power as an importer from neighbors like Korea and Japan and buyer of bonds from various countries including the U.S. Beijing exerts considerable influence over North Korea, yet unlike the U.S. it does not want to change the North Korean regime. By the same token, China tacitly prefers the separation of the two Koreas to continue.

(englishnews@chosun.com )