The Salt Lake Tribune interviews U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman about the current state of U.S.-China relations:
There have always been “peaks and valleys” in the U.S.-China relationship, Huntsman said, and “we have seen some rough patches” in recent months because of an unexpected and unprecedented confluence of issues since he arrived nearly nine months ago.
“We trampled on a couple of China’s core interests,” the former Utah governor said. That includes a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan and President Barack Obama’s meeting in February with the Dalai Lama, both long-standing contentious issues that China considers challenges to its sovereignty.
Add in the clash over Internet censorship and cyberattacks between Google and China, and Huntsman said there was a series of sensitive issues that had to be handled in a compressed period of time.
… But Huntsman said he is optimistic the relationship with the world’s most populous nation and third-largest economy is on the rebound
and is looking ahead to meetings later this month with U.S. Cabinet secretaries and top Chinese officials in Beijing to put the bilateral partnership back on track.
