US needs to better understand China's development

An accurate understanding of China-US economic and trade relations requires a correct view of China's development, keeping to the overall direction of bilateral relations, and an objective and rational view of our shared interests, a top Chinese envoy said at an annual Lunar New Year gala on Wednesday.

China-US economic and trade relations are coming to a critical crossroad, and a correct view of China's development is required to gain an accurate understanding of China-US economic and trade relations, Xu Xueyuan, chargé d' affaires of the Chinese embassy in the US, said at the annual Lunar New Year gala of the China General Chamber of Commerce – USA (CGCC-USA), held in New York on Wednesday evening.

In October, China announced at the CPC's 20th National Congress that it will advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization, and China will build a new development pattern, and continue to pursue a high-standard opening-up, Xu said.

"China's development will create conditions for the win-win cooperation between Chinese and American companies and inject impetus to the development of the world economy," she said.

"We need to have a sense of urgency, engage more frequently, and substantiate the dialogue, in a bid to enhance mutual trust, promote cooperation and show the world that dialogue can deliver," Xu said.

"Respect and resilience" is "what we need to overcome the difficulties in China-US economic and trade relations," she said. "Mutual respect will lay the foundation for sound interactions between China and the United States."

Our economic and trade cooperation should follow economic laws and abide by international economic and trade rules. People should respect the fact that China and the US stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation, the envoy emphasized.

"Resilience will provide a guarantee for Chinese and American companies to build the future. As you are moving forward against the odds, it is more necessary than ever to show your entrepreneurial spirit, forge ahead, meet the difficulties head on, and never give up," she said.

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, on Wednesday, sent video remarks to the gala. He said each nation needs to understand the other more fully, and its leaders need to find an opportunity to realize that conflict and confrontation "can only lead to ultimate disaster."

Kissinger, who was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at Wednesday's gala, said when societies look at each other across different cultures, it is sometimes difficult to avoid concerns because "the development of a country economically also increases its inherent military capability, independent of the actions necessarily of the leaders at any one point in time," he said.

This increasing military and commercial capability of China has created concerns in the United States, Kissinger said.

And the two countries must make serious efforts not just to negotiate, but to understand the deepest responsibility that China and the United States have together – that the evolution of technology and the evolution of the capacity of technological use of weapons that these two countries have has the capacity to destroy humanity, Kissinger said.

China and the US need to understand that they have different perceptions of culture and of how to conduct themselves, Kissinger said.

"Neither nation can be defeated. There is no shortcut, and there is no clever diplomacy that can get a decisive advantage. The only thing that will help to avoid humanity destroying itself by its own achievements is to make use of its intellectual, true political and historic visions," Kissinger said.

Nearly 400 guests from various sectors of the United States attended the annual gala, including Governor of New York State Kathy Hochul, Former United States ambassador to China Max Baucus, President and CEO of FedEx Raj Subramaniam, and Chairman of CGCC and President and CEO of Bank of China USA Wei Hu.