China, US in 'the same boat', ambassador says

Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai said he believes that China and the United States "remain in the same boat", and the common challenge is to navigate uncharted waters for the benefit of both countries and the world.

Cui, speaking on Wednesday at the second session of the 8th US-China Civil Dialogue, hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC, disputed the notion that China is trying to challenge international rules.

He said China has "joined more and more international organizations, acceded to more and more international treaties and conventions, and accepted more and more international rules" in recent decades.

"It took us 15 years to join the WTO (World Trade Organization). We learned about its rules, adapted to them and abided by them. It is fair to say that China's record in the WTO is open, transparent and faithful to our commitment to the organization," said Cui.

He said some people are worried about China's notion of "entering a new era of development".

"Some are scared by the term 'new era'. I have met with some very serious American scholars who asked me this question: Does China's new era mean the end of the American era?"

What China means by this new era is that the country has entered a new stage of development, with the major challenge being to meet the people's ever-growing needs for a better life and address unbalanced and inadequate development, he said.

China will have to develop itself in an open environment and cannot close its door, Cui added. "But this new era is mainly for China's own development, not for global dominance," he said.

Cui said the perception that, in economic and trade relations over the years, the US has gotten all losses and China all gains is not in line with reality.

"Our economic and trade relations are interdependent and mutually beneficial. We should not focus so much on the trade deficit, because there are a lot of structural reasons behind this deficit," the ambassador said. "Moreover, trade deficit does not mean all losses to the country that has a deficit. And surplus does not mean all gains to the country that has a surplus."