Bilateral relations between China and the United States: Policy prioritization with the ANP

Improving relations between the People\u27s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (US) and ensuring that they work together as allies rather than as competitors can serve as a stabilizing force against armed conflict, particularly with surrounding nations. The economic, social, and political relationships between the PRC and US have progressed along a hilly journey. As the second largest economy in the world, the PRC has continued to develop its military and is determined to climb the technological ladder. This growth has led the US and the PRC to be referred to as a G-2 of superpowers. As the US hegemony continues to weaken this G-2 relationship is becoming more important. With significant economic, political, and security issues at stake it is crucial that efforts to strengthen these relations are prioritized and implemented. A rigorous prioritization process, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) is used herein to prioritize the efforts and initiatives in the G-2 relationship. The model is presented with results and the extensive sensitivity analysis present additional insight into the suggested solutions. © 2013 Systems Engineering Society of China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg