Kuliang Forum underlines need for greater Sino-US cooperation

Officials, business leaders and scholars from China and the United States have shared fresh personal experiences to underline the urgent need for both countries to reject decoupling and write more success stories in people-to-people contacts, youth exchanges and win-win cooperation.

They made the point while addressing the 2024 Kuliang Forum that began in Beijing on Friday. The forum discusses how to bridge cultural differences and inherit friendship and trust.

Lu Kang, vice-minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that China relaxed and optimized its transit visa waiver policy earlier this week for a number of countries, including the United States.

"We will continue introducing measures to facilitate people-to-people exchanges and promote cultural exchanges in areas such as visas, direct flights and payments… so that the two peoples can visit each other more often and have more exchanges," he said.

Earlier this month, Lu led a delegation to the United States, meeting with people from all walks of life in Washington, New York and San Francisco.

"I was deeply encouraged by the positive, rational and pragmatic attitude and the sense of mission in promoting the development of China-US relations shown by many American friends," he said.

He said his department is willing to work with various sectors of the US community to build more platforms for communication and dialogue and hold more youth exchange activities.

In terms of youth exchanges, President Xi Jinping proposed a program last year in San Francisco to invite a total of 50,000 American youths to visit China for exchanges over the following five years.

Since its launch, nearly 15,000 American youths have come to China through this program, Lu noted.

"We welcome more American youth friends to come to China for exchanges and studies, and we also hope that Chinese youth friends here will socialize more with them and together plant the seeds of friendship between the two countries," Lu said.

"Although China and the US have different histories, cultures, social systems and stages of development, both peoples are kind and friendly, hardworking and pragmatic, both love their own homelands, their families and their lives, and both hold goodwill and interest in one another," he added.

In a video speech, Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council, called for avoiding economic decoupling between the two nations, "a scenario that would not only undermine our respective economies, but also destabilize global markets and increase tensions worldwide".

"I've also had the privilege of working on critical US-China issues, witnessing firsthand the success of diplomatic and peaceful resolutions of problems in managing our differences. It is essential for all of us to serve as diplomats in every aspect of our lives," he said.

William N. Brown, a professor at Xiamen University, drove about 5,000 kilometers across the United States in December last year and visited people whose families once lived in China.

"They showed me their photos and their letters. They haven't been in China for 80 years, and they love China. So this people-to-people relation is powerful, and we really need to build a bridge on that," Brown told China Daily on the sidelines of the forum.

In another development, Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said in a meeting with Harvard University professor Graham Allison in Beijing on Thursday that China's policy toward the US "maintains continuity and stability".

The two countries should strengthen dialogue and communication, properly manage their differences, achieve mutual successes through cooperation, and jointly deal with various global challenges, he added.