China Daily Global Edition (USA)
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Summit bolsters development of China-us relationship
Unprecedented in terms of length, quality, depth and breadth, their interactions and exchanges reflected the high importance both sides attach to China-US relations.
YANG JIECHI CHINA’S STATE COUNCILOR AND FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER
The just-concluded two-day summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama will have an important and positive impact on the future growth of China-US relations as well as peace and stability in the AsiaPacific region, said a senior Chinese government official on Saturday.
Yang Jiechi, China’s State Councilor and former foreign minister, told reporters that the two leaders, who spent about eight hours talking on a host of issues, pursued an “indepth and candid dialogue”.
“Unprecedented in terms of length, quality, depth and breadth, their interactions and exchanges reflected the high importance both sides attach to China-US relations. They responded to the need of growing China-US relations in the new era and demonstrated the strategic importance and global influence of this bilateral relationship,” said Yang.
During their meetings, both presidents agreed that the two countries are ready to open a new chapter in trans-Pacific cooperation between China and the US, and emphasized the importance of improving and developing military-tomilitary relations.
China’s navy will join a USled joint exercise for the first time next summer, which US officials hope will help build confidence between the two navies at a time when both are boosting their military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Stephanie Kleine- Ahlbrandt, northeast Asia project director and China adviser for International Crisis Group, described China’s participation in the world’s largest naval exercises as “good news”, since strengthened communication could help reduce the risks of maritime conflicts.
Yang said the two presidents share the view that China and the US have more “shared interests and close interactions in the Asia-Pacific than anyone else in the world and that the two countries have more common interests than differences in this region”.
Zhou Wenzhong, former Chinese ambassador to the US, said it is urgent for Beijing and Washington to explore more shared interests as a foundation for mutual trust in the next several years, since they may see increasing competition in the economy and regional affairs.
They agreed to enhance cooperation on climate change and establish a working group on cybersecurity that will meet for the first time in July and have regular talks on the issue.
Zhu Zhiqun, a political science professor at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and author of US-China Relations in the 21st Century, said most Western media played up the cybersecurity issue before the summit “without a proper understanding of the complex relationship between the two great powers”.
“Cybersecurity is hardly a major issue between the two countries,” said Zhu. “It is encouraging that the two leaders agreed to establish a joint working group to lay out basic cyber protocol and tackle the challenge together.”
Pieter Bottelier, a professor of China Studies at the School of Advanced and International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, believes the summit was held when the world’s two superpowers should and need to enhance understanding and trust.
“At the root of the negative slide in bilateral relations in recent years lies mutual mistrust,” said Bottelier.
Zhu called the summit a success but cautioned that the China-US relationship will continue to be marked by competition and cooperation.
“The real challenge is how to turn healthy competition into opportunities for both countries and how to promote cooperation in all aspects of the relationship, especially in military and security spheres,” said Zhu.
Leaders of the world’s two largest economies focused on strengthening closer economic ties during their second meeting on Saturday morning, with President Xi Jinping calling for more cooperation in bilateral investments, energy and infrastructure as well as local exchanges.
Xi stressed that the economic relationship lays an important foundation for the countries’ relations. They have formed a highly complementary and interdependent economic relationship, said the Chinese president, adding that not only will cooperation between China and the United States benefit each other but also impact the global economy.
“We should enhance our awareness of opportunities, the win-win situation and innovation, deepen and expand bilateral economic cooperation and strive to explore new converging interests and growth points of cooperation,” Xi said.
Xi cautioned against trade protectionism and called for the US to loosen restrictions on high-tech exports to China, and for the creation of a levelplaying field for Chinese investors in the US.
US President Barack Obama said the US welcomes Chinese investment and vowed to take actions on loosening restrictions on the high-tech exports to China. He also agreed with Xi on closer cooperation in trade and energy.
Chinese investment in the US surged to $6.7 billion last year from less than $1 billion in 2008, according to New York-based Rhodium Group, a consulting firm that tracks overseas Chinese investment.
In a recent $4.7 billion megadeal, China’s meat processor Shuanghui International Holdings purchased Virginia-based pork giant Smithfield Foods. It would be the largest-ever takeover of a US company by a Chinese investor if approved by US regulators.
Xi said that China’s gross domestic product grew 7.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, which is conducive to adjusting economic structures and improving the quality and efficiency of economic growth.
“We have full confidence in sustained and healthy longterm economic development,” Xi said.
On the intellectual property issue — one of the thorny issues between the US and China — the Chinese leader said that IP protection is not only a need for China to fulfill its international obligations, but also for the Chinese to build an innovative, new society and to achieve their own economic and social development goals. He said that China will perform this international obligation to strengthen protection of intellectual property
Prior to the second meeting, the two leaders took a walk at the Annenberg estate where the two-day summit was held and which has previously hosted eight US presidents. The two leaders, appearing casually dressed in shirtsleeves, were seen talking to each other as they walked on the green lawn.
The two leaders’ informal two-day summit — with a rare setting outside of Washington — has drawn attention from pundits from different fields. Many regard it as a needed and unique time for the two leaders to “get to know each other”, which will help in dealing with a host of issues ranging from cybersecurity to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The summit is the first face-to-face meeting the two leaders have had since Xi took office in March. They met last February in Washington when Xi had a week-long visit in the US as China’s vice-president.
“If the relationship is defined in mutually beneficial terms, there is great potential for the two to benefit economically, through bilateral direct investment, trade and technological cooperation,” said Daniel Rosen, a partner with the Rhodium Group.
John Frisbie, president of the Washington-based USChina Business Council, which represents more than 200 US companies that have business in China, said: “I view this informal and lengthy set of meetings between the two presidents positively.”
“Both leaders sent a message about the importance of the US-China relationship by carving out an opportunity to meet early in the new Chinese leadership’s tenure and set the tone for engagement during the second term of the Obama administration,” said Frisbie.
Michael Armacost, a fellow at Stanford University, said the two president’s focus on issues on which the two countries can deepen collaboration is the right direction for the future of US-China relations.