The gradual reopening of New York’s businesses and movement toward normalcy in daily activities has provided a lot of optimism and hope for our small-business owners, consumers, employees, and residents of New York. To that end, my colleagues in the minority conference and I are pleased to see graduating high-school students included in those reopening efforts. New guidance was recently announced that will allow in-person graduation ceremonies to take place. This is an important milestone and day for students, and it is critical that no group of individuals is overlooked as we continue to reopen our state.

 Earlier this month, members of our conference wrote a letter to Dr. Howard Zucker, commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, advocating for much-needed guidance on high-school graduations and other end-of-year school events. We are thrilled to report that our call for such guidance was heard and both indoor and outdoor ceremonies will be permitted with proper health and safety procedures in place. 

While certainly headed in the right direction, we are not out of the woods yet. COVID-19 is still a risk that is still prevalent across the state. However, with the increased availability of vaccines, and the widespread adoption of best practices like mask wearing and social distancing, we are able to begin a path back toward normalization. We must not needlessly restrict important social, recreational, and economic activities without good cause. New Yorkers have learned a great deal and have made incredible sacrifices to change their day-to-day lives. With the proper protocols in place, we can, and we will, be able to celebrate the great accomplishments of our graduating seniors. They earned this day, and they deserve to be able to enjoy it as others have in years past.

The challenges we have faced and the hardships we have endured over the past year have been extraordinary, to say the least. It is extremely important that, now, as the worst parts of lockdown and quarantine subside, we give our residents, students, families, and all those who were forced to forego important milestones and events a chance to experience as much as possible. Being able to walk across the stage, proudly, in front of loved ones is exactly the sort of thing we ought to be working toward making happen on a regular basis.                      

William (Will) A. Barclay, Republican, is the New York Assembly Minority Leader and represents the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact Barclay at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us. 

We see a new tone in diplomatic affairs between the United States and China, a real change in how both sides view the relationship. Top officials now talk openly about competition — much more so than a few years ago.

The fact is that the U.S. and China have long been rivals, competing for influence and advantage. Both want the same thing: to be the final arbiter of political and economic affairs in East and Southeast Asia.

When President Barack Obama called for a “pivot” toward Asia — for drawing down U.S. power in the Middle East and repositioning military resources in the Pacific — a key goal was to check China’s ambitions and to reorient the region away from China and toward the United States. Obama also wanted to incorporate China into the global economy and accommodate China’s rise.

From the standpoint of Obama’s critics, accommodating China was a mistake. Many of these critics favor an aggressive posture toward China. President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda came with a strong dose of anti-Chinese rhetoric and complaints that China had taken advantage of us. In many ways, Trump’s foreign policy was characterized by an anti-China agenda of tariffs, trade wars, and sanctions, as the U.S.-China relationship reached a historic low point.

China shares the blame for this, of course. When Xi Jinping became China’s leader in 2012, he asserted control over the Chinese economy, dragging China “into the 21st century,” as he put it. He implemented massive building and economic programs. He clamped down on dissent and ushered in a new era of state control over communication and information.

Xi made no secret of the fact he wanted China to become a global military power as well as an economic titan. He aggressively promoted the Chinese yuan as an international currency and launched the Belt and Road initiative, a massive infrastructure project across Asia and Africa. Recently, tensions have flared over a World Health Organization investigation of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China. The U.S. and its allies have accused China of genocidal policies toward the Uighur population in Xinjiang province.

The U.S. rejects China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, which threaten our allies. The status of Taiwan is another sore point: We provide security and military support for Taiwan, which China claims as its own. China has ratcheted up its control of semi-autonomous Hong Kong, leading to protests.

Despite China’s rise, the U.S. remains the most powerful country in the world, including in the Pacific region. I don’t think there is much evidence for the claim, made by some people in this country, that China is our rival on the international stage. China is a regional power, but its allies are weak and isolated regimes such as North Korea and Myanmar. Most nations in the region have security ties to the U.S. Regional powers like Australia, India, and Japan are staunch American allies.

A challenge for American foreign policy is to identify areas where we can cooperate with China. Interestingly enough, there are several such areas.

We both have an interest in the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and slowing the spread of nuclear-weapons technology. We both contribute to United Nations-led military peacekeeping operations, reflecting our interest in preventing armed conflict in Africa and the Middle East. Both of us have an interest in preventing humanitarian disasters, both natural and human-caused. And we both would benefit from increased cooperation to prevent future pandemics and disease outbreaks.

Finally, we have a shared interest in mitigating the impact of climate change. As the world’s largest consumers of fossil fuels and emitters of greenhouse gases, the U.S. and China need to be key participants in any effective climate agreement.

The U.S. and China will continue to compete, but we also need to find ways to cooperate.        

Lee Hamilton, 90, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south central Indiana.