History as a Mirror
The past shows sound Chinau. S. relations benefit both countries and beyond
January 1, 2019 marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. Looking back, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter once told Li Qiangmin, Chinese Consul General in Houston, that the most correct thing he had done during his presidential tenure from 1977 to 1981 was normalizing U.s.-china relations. The decision changed China, the United States, and the world, Carter said.
It has not only changed, but also benefited, the two countries and the world, Li replied.
“It is an appropriate time to analyze and reflect upon the state of U.s.-china relations,” Carter wrote in a congratulatory letter to a forum co-hosted by the RUC (Renmin University of China) North America Alumni Association and the China Program of the Carter Center in Atlanta on December 15, 2018. The forum commemorated the issuance of the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between China and the United States.
Amid uncertainties clouding the ties, a review of the past could lead to rethink- ing and new solutions, according to the participants.
Robert Kapp, former President of the U.s.-china Business Council, acknowledged that this is a difficult and challenging period for the two countries. “We have to keep thinking about how our relations with China create positive opportunities, not just at the level of national interests in a very general sense,” he said at the forum, stressing that a large number of Chinese are living in the United States and individual Americans are making their way to China and building a life there.