Economic and trade relations are the ballast and propeller of China-US relations, and relate to the fundamental interests of both peoples and the prosperity and stability of the world. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, bilateral commercial relations have witnessed sustained development, with increasing depth and breadth of economic cooperation. Today the two countries are a in a win-win and complementarity relationship marked by intertwined interests, delivering benefits to both countries and the wider world.
Differences and frictions are inevitable in China-US commercial cooperation, given their different development stages and economic systems. In fact, bilateral commercial cooperation used to be plagued by setbacks and difficult problems. But in a spirit of reason and cooperation, the two countries have worked to address these problems and bridged differences through dialogue and consultation, moving their commercial relations towards greater maturity.
China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and stand to lose from confrontation. Cooperation is the only way forward. A win-win agreement serves the interests of both countries and meets the expectation of other countries. We hope that the United States will meet China halfway. In the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits, we need to manage differences, strengthen cooperation and move bilateral relations towards greater coordination, cooperation and stability, to boost the wellbeing of the global population, including Chinese and American citizens.
Since establishing diplomatic relations four decades ago, China and the United States have seized opportunities presented by economic globalization and leveraged their complementary economic strengths. Therefore, bilateral commercial cooperation has grown bigger and stronger from a low base, and expanded into more sectors. Between 1979 and 2018, two-way trade in goods surged from 2.5 billion dollars to 633.5 billion dollars, up by 252-fold; trade in services exceeded 125 billion dollars, and the accumulative two-way FDI approached 160 billion dollars. Now China-US commercial cooperation has grown stronger in both depth and breadth than ever before, delivering tangible benefits to both countries and peoples and contributing to the prosperity and stability of the world economy.
