u.s. experts call for more dialogue and cooperation with china
china's vice foreign minister xie feng met with scott kennedy on october 8.（photo: china's ministry of foreign affairs）
by gong qian
recently, u.s. experts call for more academic exchanges between china and the u.s.
this was evidenced by scott kennedy, an expert of chinese business and economics and senior advisor of the u.s. centre for strategic and international studies (csis), who visited some chinese government agencies, universities and think tanks in beijing and shanghai in his month-long trip recently. kennedy is one of the few u.s. scholars to visit china since the start of the pandemic.
in his lecture at peking university, kennedy called for strengthening official communication to increase mutual trust. he believes that healthy competition and peaceful coexistence is the ideal solution for china-u.s. relations.
china's vice foreign minister xie feng met with kennedy on october 8. xie encouraged scholars from china and the u.s. to carry out more communication, so as to play a positive role in enhancing mutual understanding between the two countries.
in recent years, geopolitical tensions and the pandemic lead to less official and people-to-people exchanges in person between the two countries. in addition, the trade-war between the two countries exacerbated the existing and additional tensions. under the circumstances, it is vital to improve bilateral ties with more visits by people from academic and business communities from both sides.
the center for china and globalization (ccg), a leading chinese think tank, kicked off a 10-day visit to the u.s. in late june this year. "over the past two years, we and our u.s. counterparts could not communicate with each other face to face. during this period, they could only receive information from the u.s. media, so it seems that they have more misunderstandings about china than before," miao lv, one of the co-founders of ccg, told the paper. in her view, the u.s. scholars and experts still have a strong desire to know more about china.
to this extent, it is urgent and necessary to restore contact and open up people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. "my trip in china is meant to open up a crack in their echo chamber, let some air in, see what people think here, and then help open the echo chamber door back in the u.s., and see if that generates some new thoughts," kennedy was quoted as saying by south china morning post.
kennedy's views and actions were echoed by other u.s. experts and scholars, calling for cooperation rather than confrontation. renowned think-tank economist c. fred bergsten is one of them. he is also a political adviser and was the founding director of the peterson institute for international economics.
in an online video talk with the president of ccg wang yaohui on september 30, bergsten said the u.s. containment policy on china "clearly does not work", citing that china-u.s. trade dropped sharply [in 2019] due to the trade war, while china's overall trade boomed enormously.
"it would be a dramatic step if our two countries could get together, roll back those tariffs, end the trade war, restore a much larger level of trade between our countries, and in that way restore a huge amount of confidence in the world trading system," bergsten said.
a report titled the business of america and china is business, released by the u.s. foreign policy association, also called on u.s. policymakers to view china from a correct perspective and strengthen u.s.-china economic and trade cooperation. it argues that china is an important business opportunity for the u.s. and u.s. tariffs levied on chinese imports have hurt the u.s. more than they have hurt china.
statistics further showed that cooperation delivered mutual benefits. according to china's foreign ministry spokesperson mao ning, the average return on u.s. direct investment in china was 14.7 percent between 2000 and 2020, far higher than that of u.s. outbound direct investment of 9.7 percent. in the first half of this year, china-u.s. trade grew by 12.7 percent and the u.s. paid in investment in china increased by 26.1 percent year-on-year.
as china becomes the second largest economy in the world, the u.s. treats china as its real economic challenger and wants to decouple from china. but president xi jinping has made it clear on many occasions that china will never seek hegemony and is committed to building a community with a shared future for humankind.
"the fundamental response to [china's challenge] is domestic. we need to prove our own performance, get our own act together to regain the confidence of china and the rest of the world ... we of course need to strengthen our relationship with china directly," bergsten emphasized.
by allowing more rational and objective communication to take place, it is hopeful that china-u.s. relations could get back on the track of sound and steady development sooner rather than later.
