Keep to the right direction of China-U.S. ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 7 extended congratulations to Donald Trump on his election as president of the United States.

The future of China-U.S. relations is a matter of great concern to both peoples and has drawn significant attention from the international community. Today’s world needs an overall stable China-U.S. relationship. Whether China and the United States can find the right way to get along has a bearing on the future of humanity, and that is the question of the century that must be answered.

As Xi has pointed out, history teaches that China and the United States gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. A stable, sound and sustainable China-U.S. relationship serves the two countries’ shared interests and meets the aspiration of the international community.

Relations between China and the United States, both permanent members of the UN Security Council and the world’s top two economies, are one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world. The characteristics of the times, such as the multi-polarization of the world, economic globalization and growing cultural diversity, have given the development of China-U.S. relations an even broader significance and impact. The relationship, which concerns not only the well-being of the two peoples, but the global prosperity in various fields like economy, politics, society and culture, is critical for world peace and development.

The world is undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is intertwined with changes and chaos. We live in an interdependent world and rise and fall together. With their interests deeply intertwined, all countries need to build maximum consensus for win-win and all-win outcomes. This is the basic starting point for China to view the world and the China-U.S. relationship. Major countries should behave in a manner befitting their status and act with broad-mindedness and a sense of responsibility.

As two major countries, China and the United States should undertake responsibilities for world peace, create opportunities for the development of all countries, provide the world with public goods, and play a positive role in promoting global unity, so that they can be a source of stability for world peace and a propeller for common development.

The international community widely believes that China-U.S. relations are crucial to the world. China cannot solve the world’s problems by itself, and the United States can’t do it by itself either. Better that the two countries do it together.

Getting the China-U.S. relationship right is not optional, but something the two sides must do and must do well. For China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option. It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides.

China and the United States have different histories and cultures, social systems and development paths. However, mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation are the lessons learned from over 50 years of China-U.S. relations and the exchanges between major countries in history, which should be the direction of joint efforts between the two countries.

Specifically, mutual respect is the precondition, because interaction sustains only when differences in social and political systems are respected and acknowledged. Peaceful coexistence is the bottom line. That is because conflict and confrontation between two major countries like China and the United States have unimaginable consequences. Win-win cooperation is the goal. When working together, China and the United States can do great things conducive to the two countries and the world.

China does not engage in the so-called “major-country competition,” with clearly stated and transparent strategic intentions. The aim is to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, base its efforts on the goal of meeting people’s aspirations for a better life, unswervingly pursue reform and opening-up, and promote the building of an open global economy.

China’s policy toward the United States remains highly consistent and stable. It has consistently perceived and envisioned the China-U.S. relationship in the broad context of the accelerating global transformations unseen in a century. The ultimate goal of maintaining good China-U.S. relations is to enhance the well-being of the people of the two countries and show the responsibility of a major country in promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

The two sides should form a correct perception of each other’s domestic and foreign policies and strategic intentions. China-U.S. interactions should be defined by dialogue and win-win cooperation, not confrontation and zero-sum competition.

China-U.S. relations should not be a zero-sum game where one side out-competes or thrives at the expense of the other. The successes of China and the United States are opportunities, not challenges, for each other. The world is big enough for the two countries to develop themselves and prosper together.

Differences and contradictions are inevitable, but as long as the two sides can strengthen dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation, negative factors will be gradually reduced and positive factors accumulated. Thereby, the space for benign interactions in China-U.S. relations will become larger and larger.

The China-U.S. relationship has never been smooth sailing. There remain risks and challenges that call for joint attention and resolution.

Looking forward, it is hoped that the United States will work in the same direction with China, view China and its development in a positive and rational light, see each other’s development as an opportunity rather than a challenge, let the two countries serve as a boost to each other’s development rather than a hindrance, and find the right way to get along in the new era, so as to benefit both countries and the wider world.