Envoy calls policy on US 'consistent'

China is willing to develop relations with the United States with goodwill and sincerity, and its policy is "highly stable and consistent", Beijing's top envoy in Washington said on Thursday at an online reception to mark China's National Day, which coincided this year with the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival.

"We hope that in a world full of uncertainties and complex changes, countries will all make correct choices conducive to global well-being," Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said at the beginning of the virtual reception and concert.

"We have been firmly opposed, all along, to a new 'Cold War' or decoupling, and we are committed to the sound and stable growth of China-US relations," he said.

The ambassador said the relationship between the two countries is experiencing "severe difficulties" rarely seen in the previous 41 years of diplomatic ties.

Over the past few months, the US administration has flexed its muscles with the approach of the Nov 3 presidential election, slapping sanctions on Chinese officials, threatening to ban Chinese technology companies and closing down China's consulate in Houston, which prompted Beijing to order the shuttering of the US consulate in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in response.

"Some people attempt to write off the hard-won achievements in China-US relations, stoke decoupling and incite ideological confrontation and a new 'Cold War,'" Cui said. "This has seriously undermined the fundamental interests of the Chinese and American people."

Quoting Chinese President Xi Jinping, Cui said China is committed to peaceful, open, cooperative and common development, and has no intention to fight either a cold or hot war with any country.

"China's policy toward the United States is highly stable and consistent. We are willing to develop our relations with the US with goodwill and sincerity, and the two countries should lose no time in putting bilateral relations on the right track of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation," Cui said.

The reception received a congratulatory message from former US president Jimmy Carter, who said it is important for people to still come together to celebrate, even if virtually.

"As we continue to encounter unprecedented challenges, events such as this will remain crucial in helping to improve US-China relations," wrote Carter, who turned 96 on Thursday.

Neil Bush, chairman of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations, recalled the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China last year, which he attended. The son of the late former president said in a video aired at Thursday's reception that he witnessed "a great outpouring of pride that the Chinese people rightfully have" for the progress made over the past seven decades.

"A lot of that progress can be attributed to our bilateral ties, the ties between the United States and China," he said. "There's no doubt that we have benefited, that the Chinese have benefited, that we all have benefited from closer trade relations, from cultural exchanges, from student exchanges, from all of the ways that we've been connecting over the past 40 years."

The Bush China foundation was created in May 2017 in the belief that "virtually no major global challenge today can be resolved in any enduring sense in the absence of effective communication and cooperation between the United States and China", according to David J. Firestein, the foundation's president and chief executive officer.

"Right now it's never more important than trying to learn from one another so that we can tackle this terribly devastating global pandemic," Bush said.