Cautious optimism on China-US relations on display at MSC

History advances through twists and turns. China-US relations have "bright prospects", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday, noting that the relationship could either turn toward cooperation or twist into confrontation. China hopes for the cooperative path, but is prepared for risks.

In response to questions on China-US relations following a speech at the "China in the World" session of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Wang said that how China and the United States, as the world's two major powers, get along with each other bears on the fundamental direction of the international situation.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that it is heartening that US President Donald Trump holds great respect for President Xi Jinping and for the Chinese people, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

Trump has clearly stated that China and the United States can work together to address major global challenges, and that the two leaders can advance the development of China-US relations, Wang said.

However, Wang said, there are still some in the US who do not share this perspective and who continue to make every effort to contain and suppress China, and to attack and slander the country by any means.

He noted that China-US relations faces two possible scenarios.

The first being that Washington develops a more objective and rational understanding of China, adopts a proactive and pragmatic China policy, and works with Beijing to expand shared interests, putting the relationship on a more cooperative track that would benefit both countries and the world.

The other, he said, is to decouple and sever supply chains from China, counter and contain China, form various "small circles" and "exclusive blocs" targeting China, and even attempt to plot "Taiwan independence", split China, and cross China's red lines —moves that he warned would lead the two countries into confrontation.

China hopes for the first outcome, but also is prepared to deal with various risks, Wang said, adding that "mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation" should ultimately prevail because they are the only correct choice.

Also on Saturday in Munich, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it would be "geopolitical malpractice" and "irresponsible" for major powers not to stay in conversations with China, adding that American and Chinese interests "will often not align" and that diplomacy must navigate those clashes peacefully while avoiding conflict "both economic and worse".

During the telephone conversation between the two presidents on Feb 4, Trump once again expressed his desire to visit China in April, and Xi renewed the invitation to Trump to visit China, Lin Jian, a spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, confirmed on Thursday.

At the Munich Security Conference, Rubio said that the United States has an obligation to keep talking with China, noting that the world's two largest economies — and two of its major powers — cannot afford to let communication lapse.

Because the two countries have vast global interests, Rubio said, their national interests "will often not align".

"We owe it to the world to try to manage those as best we can, obviously avoiding conflict, both economic and worse. And that – so it's important for us to have communications with them in that regard," he said.

Rubio said the United States would look for opportunities to work with China where their interests are aligned, saying the two sides can still cooperate to make a "positive impact on the world".

He singled out trade as an area with global spillover, saying whatever happens between the United States and China on trade has "a global implication". He added that long-term challenges will remain "irritants" in the relationship.

Still, he said the goal of diplomacy is to "try to navigate those times in which our national interests come into conflict with one another, always hoping to do it peacefully", while acknowledging that "fundamental challenges" between the United States and China will persist "for the foreseeable future".

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Rubio said Trump intends to travel to Beijing and has already met once with Xi.

"It would be irresponsible for great powers not to have relationships and talk through things," Rubio said, adding that the point is to avoid "unnecessary conflict" to the extent possible, even as he acknowledged there are areas the two sides "will never agree on".

On Friday, Rubio met Wang on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. That meeting was "positive and constructive", the US State ?Department ?said on Saturday.

They agreed to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, give full play to the coordinating role of political and diplomatic channels, support high-level interactions between the two countries, strengthen dialogue and cooperation in various fields, and promote the stable development of bilateral relations, according to a Chinese readout of their meeting.

At a Chinese New Year celebration on Thursday, Xie Feng, China's top envoy in Washington, said that while differences between China and the United States are inevitable, they must be managed by respecting each other's core interests and major concerns, so as to install a "safety valve" for bilateral relations.