There is more to Sino-US relations than Trump’s rival power tag

The strongest foundation for bilateral ties, including those between China and the US, is trust and cooperation.

On Monday US President Donald Trump called China a “rival power” that is “aggressively undermining America’s interests around the globe,” in his administration’s first national security strategy.

The label, which is as blunt as it is misleading, suggests that the Trump administration is still viewing the relationship with China with an old-fashioned zero-sum mentality.

This does precious little to help bring the world’s top two economies, also each other’s largest trading partners, closer.

In fact, the China-US relationship, especially in the economic and trade sectors, has benefited both sides.

In 2016, US trade in goods and services with China totaled an estimated $648.2 billion; two-way foreign direct investment surpassed $60 billion. US exports of goods and services to China supported an estimated 911,000 jobs in 2015.

These facts and figures have proved that the two sides have far more reasons and ample opportunities to work together than to turn against each other.

There are many more cases that can illustrate the success of China-US cooperation. For example, to combat climate change, the two countries formerly joined forces to make the historic Paris climate deal a reality. In maintaining global security, the two countries worked together along with other parties to clinch the Iranian nuclear deal. Therefore, despite differences, cooperation and dialogue should be the mainstay of bilateral relations.

Since Trump became president, the two countries have maintained regular high-level communications.

Over the past year, the two sides have launched four highlevel dialogue mechanisms on diplomacy and security, the economy, social and people-topeople exchanges, and law enforcement and cyber security have been making progress in those areas. During Trump’s visit to China last month, the two countries signed $250 billion worth of business deals.

So far, the development of China-US relations has been sound and stable and is gaining momentum. The two countries should focus on cooperation and overcome differences in accordance with the consensus that has been reached so as to ensure bilateral ties develop in the right direction.

China and the US both shoulder the responsibilities of maintaining world peace and stability as well as promoting economic prosperity and global development. They need to build trust and view each other as partners. This is in the interest of both countries and will benefit the world as a whole.