Xi underlines global impact of ties

President Xi Jinping (second from right) meets with a United States congressional delegation led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (third from left) in Beijing on Monday. Zhai Jianlan / XinHua

Dialogue: Importance of bilateral relationship reaffirmed

China and the United States should properly handle their relations, and "how China and the US get along will determine the future of humanity", President Xi Jinping said.

Xi made the remark while meeting with a bipartisan US Senate delegation led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday afternoon.

The relations between the world's top two economies have been tense due to factors such as the Taiwan question and US sanctions against China's semiconductor sector, analysts said.

Xi said the two countries should respect each other, coexist in peace and pursue win-win cooperation. They also should boost the well-being of the two peoples, promote the progress of human society and contribute to world peace and development, he added.

Xi also underlined the significance of China-US ties in the global context, calling it "the most important bilateral relationship in the world".

He said that China and the US, as two major countries, should "demonstrate the broad-mindedness, vision and responsibility of major countries".

In addition, the two countries should manage their relationship well and "act with a sense of responsibility to history, to the people and to the world".

Speaking on divergences between the two nations, he said that competition and confrontation are not in line with the trend of the times and cannot solve the two countries' own problems or the challenges facing the world.

He pointed out that the common interests of China and the US far outweigh their differences, and "the respective success of China and the US is an opportunity for, rather than a challenge to, each other".

Citing the political science terminology "the Thucydides Trap" — used to explain when a rising power may cause fear and insecurity in an established power, leading to confrontation and even war — Xi said the trap "is not inevitable".

"Planet Earth is vast enough to accommodate the respective development and common prosperity of China and the US," he added.

As for bilateral cooperation, Xi said China and the US have seen deep economic integration and can benefit from each other's growth.

Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the response to climate change, and settlement of international and regional hot spot issues require coordination and cooperation between the two sides, he added.

The US delegation led by Schumer introduced views and opinions on issues related to bilateral ties.

Members of the delegation said that the stable development of US-China relations is not only vital to the two countries, but also has a bearing on world peace and development.

They said China's development and prosperity benefit the US people, and the US does not seek conflict with China.

The US also does not seek to decouple, they added.

The US looks forward to strengthening bilateral trade and investment cooperation, as well as enhancing communication and cooperation on issues such as addressing climate change, combating drug trafficking and resolving regional conflicts, the delegation members said.

Observers said the meeting illustrated China's broad mind and constructive approach to minimizing miscalculation and bringing the relations out of a low point.

Wang Dong, a professor and executive director of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding at Peking University, said that the meeting was "an impressive, amiable personal effort made by the Chinese head of state to appeal to and help US lawmakers to perceive China properly with a cool head, giving a boost to improving the ties".

"Xi's call for the broad-mindedness of a major country sent the message that Washington should not be obsessed with securing its hegemony and selfish interests," he said.

Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies' Department of American Studies, said both sides reaffirmed the importance of their ties at the meeting, and Beijing made it clear that repairing the damage to the relations caused by the US side requires breaking away from a Cold War mentality and a zero-sum game approach.

"The remarks made by the US side at the meeting show that the US, at federal, congressional and state levels, has also realized that it is impossible for the US to totally break away from China, and they are also not willing to do so," Su said.

"The key for getting the ties back on track lies in pragmatic cooperation, and both sides should work to make sure the established cooperative mechanisms function properly and evenly. This will be conducive to both sides managing and controlling their divergences and stabilizing relations," she said.

The US delegation, which arrived in Shanghai on Saturday, will also travel to Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

Xi told the US lawmakers that more members of Congress are welcome to visit China "to gain a better understanding of China's past, present and future".

He also voiced hope that the legislative bodies of the two countries will have more visits, dialogues and exchanges to enhance mutual understanding and make contributions to stabilizing and improving China-US relations.

The US lawmakers told Xi that they are very pleased to visit China, and they appreciated the Chinese side's great hospitality, which enabled them to feel the vigor and potential of the country's development.

The US is willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with China in the spirit of openness, frankness and mutual respect, manage the two countries' ties in a responsible way, and advance the stable development of US-China relations, they said.

The US delegation also met with Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday.