U.S. should enhance cooperation with China rather than setting obstacles

By Wu Yuehe

The ambivalence of some U.S. officials has been fully revealed by their recent ridiculous remarks.

On one hand, they hope China to make huge purchases of U.S agricultural products to relieve their pressured American farmers. On the other hand, they are holding tight to the bigotry, the so-called “defending America’s 5G future,” and keeping blocking China’s high-tech firms. In addition, the desire to impose additional tariffs on $325 billion worth of Chinese imports is still lingering on their mind.

It’s possibly true that they do want to reach a trade deal with China, but they are still putting on dramas and failing to see the core of the issue.

What’s the basis of mutual respect and equality? Can both parties accommodate each other’s concerns? Does the U.S. have the determination and perseverance to work with China to reach a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement? These questions are unavoidable and must be answered by the U.S. side.

China neither has the motivation to hurt the interests of the U.S., nor has done anything to threat the latter. Lies from some unfriendly US officials are still lies no matter what stories are fabricated. 

Does the U.S. have enemies? If the answer is yes, its enemy can only be its own arrogance.

It’s difficult for some U.S. officials who pursue a philosophy of “me-first” to adhere to equality and mutual respect. Unfortunately, they are not living in a barbarian world where the law of the jungle rules. Though the U.S. is the largest economy on the planet, it can never dominate the world at its will.

If these U.S. officials keep going to extremes on “me-first” policies, they will definitely pay a price for their arrogance – loss of America’s international presence.

Those Americans who initiated the economic and trade frictions with China are not willing to share benefits, and they never consider how to achieve win-win results.

According to U.S. media, some high officials from the American government acknowledged recently that the trade war with China is also hurting U.S. companies.

However, White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow is still threatening China as he used to do, claiming that the U.S. is determined to win against China. “I think if China keeps moving the way they’re moving, they will be on the wrong side of history,” Kudlow said.

Such illogic remarks only drew despise from the international society. It’s obvious that “win-win results” does not exist in the dictionary of some U.S. officials. No matter what they say, it will never change the fact that in today’s world, no one can achieve success without win-win cooperation with other countries.

In the era of economic globalization, the international division of labor is a result of the market rule of maximizing common interests. Therefore, it’s natural for the stakeholders on the global industrial chain to prioritize cooperation.

As an ancient Chinese book writes, there’s nothing more widely agreed in the world than the pursuit of justice. The aspiration for justice leads to equality, and equality leads to a fair social system.

On July 16, the Appellate Body of the WTO released a report, pointing out that the U.S. didn’t fully comply with a ruling of the WTO, and if it doesn’t remove certain tariffs that violate WTO rules, it could face sanctions from China. Will the U.S. wake up to reality under the circumstance?

China has always upheld sincerity in promoting win-win results. China has repeatedly stressed that the essence of China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is mutual benefits and win-win. Both sides have huge overlapping interests and should be good partners for cooperation.

This point is also widely agreed by the U.S. public. The voices demanding cooperation were once again made by the two peoples at the fourth US-China Sister Cities Conference held on July 17 in Huston, Texas. They said that communication is of particular significance when China-U.S. relationship is undergoing difficulties, and efforts should be intensified by the two sides to create win-win results.

The heads of state of China and the U.S. have agreed at the G20 Osaka summit to restart economic and trade consultations between their countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and that the U.S. side will not add new tariffs on Chinese exports. This agreement has been welcomed by the two peoples and even the international society at large.

The two countries should cooperate with sincerity in accordance with their consensus rather than setting up obstacles, so that they can finally get closer to their goals.

Source: People’s Daily