China Daily USA: New vision for China-US ties can benefit world

NEW YORK, Sept. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The following article was published today by China Daily USA.

With the rapid changes in the world, the old era of Sino-American relations is over, and there's no going back. The two countries should thus work to create a better future and a new vision for the world.

That is a point Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai made at the Vision China event Tuesday in New York, where leading voices on China-US relations discussed how the two countries should resolve their differences and advance their ties.

The forum, "China-US Relations: 40 Years & Beyond," took place shortly before Beijing and Washington are to hold yet another round of high-level talks in Washington in early October to address their outstanding trade disputes. Twelve such meetings since February 2018 failed to produce a deal.

In his keynote speech, Cui said, "We have learned from the past four decades that cooperation is the only right option for us. It is something we should always uphold."

The envoy said that some Americans blame a rising China, which they claim will displace the US to be the world's new hegemon.

"But I do not see the onus on the side of China. It is how America perceives China that should be held to account."

Cui's points were echoed by Stephen Roach, senior fellow at the Yale University Jackson Institute of Global Affairs.

"We have a lot of problems in the United States. Unfortunately for us, it is very convenient for us — always when we have problems — to blame them on somebody else," said the former chief economist at Morgan Stanley and chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.

"We did that with the Japanese 30 years ago, we are doing it again with China," Roach said.

Speaking at the opening of the forum, Zhou Shuchun, China Daily's publisher and editor-in-chief, highlighted the importance of the two nations proceeding from what they achieved over the past decades.

"If we could break the ice 40 years ago when there were virtually no exchanges and interaction, then in today's world of interdependence, with the two countries being each other's biggest trade partner and main investor, owning very much a piece of each other, there is absolutely no reason for the future to be going against the tracks of history, and the talk of 'decoupling' is sheer nonsense," Zhou said.

Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council, recalled the history of China-US business relations.

He discussed the first major rebellion of the British North American colonies in 1773, virtually the spark that created the United States of America, in which patriots at the Boston Tea Party, disguised as native Americans, threw tea imported from Fujian into Boston Harbor to protest a new tax that the British colonial government had put on the tea. 

The uprising was referenced in America's Declaration of Independence, its founding document, in which Thomas Jefferson laid out the formal claims for independence when he complained that England's King George had illegally cut off trade with all parts of the world and "imposed tariffs without our consent," according to Allen.

"This is interesting and has a relevance even today," he said.

Talking about the current trade tensions between China and the US, Allen said he hoped the leaders of the two countries will be inspired by the friendship, cooperation and mutual benefit that has characterized the bilateral relationship in the past.

"We have a glorious history. We have a mutual responsibility to ensure that the success of the past continues into the future," he said.

Maurice Greenberg, chairman of Starr Companies, said he believed it's time for both countries to have a trade agreement.

"If both sides can't do it, both sides will suffer. I'm convinced of that," said Greenberg, also vice-chairman of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

Kenneth Quinn, president of The World Food Prize Foundation, recalled the February 2012 visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Muscatine, Iowa, where Xi talked about and quoted Mark Twain, and about seeing the sun over the Mississippi River.

"To have someone who is a head of state, but of another country, speak about my country that way, was so impactful, so dramatic. It left a very, very deep impression on me," said Quinn, former US ambassador to Cambodia.

Xu Chen, president and CEO of Bank of China USA, said that while his bank acts on corporate social responsibility by engaging in poverty relief projects in China and helping low-income local communities and small businesses in the US, it's important for countries to commit to "state social responsibilities."

"If the US is willing to work together with China for mutual benefits and shoulder 'state social responsibilities' on the world stage, I believe that China will gladly work hand-in-hand with the US and jointly promote a more peaceful, stable and prosperous global community," Xu said.

Speakers at the event also highlighted the role of people-to-people exchanges played in boosting the relations between the two countries.

Connie Sweeris, a player behind the ice-breaking "ping-pong diplomacy" of the 1970s, encouraged people to play a part in the relationship, just like she did with sports and cultural exchanges.

"We need to be ambassadors for peace," she said.

The event also featured a panel discussion on Chinese companies' investment in the US, featuring Xiao Yuqiang, chairman of the US Management Committee of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; Vivek K. Sarin, interim secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development; and Jeff Liu, president and CEO of Fuyao Group North America. The discussion was moderated by Ji Tao, editor-in-chief and president of China Daily USA. 

The New York event at Asia Society was hosted by China Daily and Bank of China. It was the eighth Vision China since it was launched in 2018. Each has featured global opinion leaders invited to discuss Chinese topics of international significance.

SOURCE China Daily USA