By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily
The San Francisco meeting between the Chinese and U.S. Presidents is significant for enhancing trust, removing suspicion, managing differences and expanding cooperation between China and the United States. It is also significant for injecting certainty and stability into a world of turbulence and transformation.
As two major countries and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China and the United States shoulder special international responsibilities and obligations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said during the San Francisco meeting that the two countries should jointly shoulder responsibilities as major countries, stressing that the problems facing human society cannot be solved without cooperation between major countries.
China and the United States should lead by example, step up coordination and cooperation on international and regional issues, and provide more public goods for the world. The two sides should keep their initiatives open to each other, or coordinate and connect them for synergy, to the benefit of the world.
To shoulder responsibilities of a major country requires having a grand vision of a major country. Xi pointed out that China and the United States are faced with two options in the era of global transformations unseen in a century: One is to enhance solidarity and cooperation and join hands to meet global challenges and promote global security and prosperity; and the other is to cling to the zero-sum mentality, provoke rivalry and confrontation, and drive the world toward turmoil and division. The two choices point to two different directions that will decide the future of humanity and Planet Earth.
Speaking from his vantage point, Xi said at a welcome dinner by friendly organizations in the United States that China is ready to be a partner and friend of the United States, and the fundamental principles that China follows in handling China-U.S. relations are mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.
The role and responsibility of a major country lie in its actions to uphold world peace and security, and promote global development and prosperity.
Over the past more than half a century, the resumption and development of China-U.S. relations benefited the two peoples and promoted world peace, stability and prosperity. At present, as the world sees increasing instabilities and uncertainties, it is an aspiration shared by the two peoples and people of the world that China and the United States enhance coordination and cooperation, each run their domestic affairs well and, at the same time, work together to advance the noble cause of world peace and development.
During the San Francisco meeting, the two presidents offered views guiding the most pronounced issues confronting China-U.S. relations, including adopting a correct perception of each other, properly managing differences, and advancing dialogue and cooperation. They had all-round discussions on addressing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Ukraine crisis, climate change, artificial intelligence and other global challenges. They further discussed the right way for the two major countries to get along with each other and further identified the joint responsibilities of China and the United States as major countries.
It is believed by the international community that the meeting was constructive and has injected stability and certainty into the changing world.
It’s a due responsibility of major countries to strengthen coordination and cooperation on international and regional issues. China and the United States are the world’s largest two economies. Their economic aggregates account for over 1/3 of the world’s total, and their bilateral trade about 1/5. The relations between the two countries decide the economic climate of the world.
Attempts at decoupling or severing supply chains in defiance of underlying laws would not help boost the U.S. economy. They would only make the world economy more vulnerable.
The Asia-Pacific is a region where Chinese and American interests are most tightly entwined and interact most frequently. The two countries should strengthen cooperation and work toward the goal of building an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040.
Providing more public goods to the world is a crucial manifestation of shouldering the responsibilities of a major country. Xi said at the welcome dinner by friendly organizations in the United States that the Belt and Road Initiative as well as the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China are open to all countries at all times including the United States. China is also ready to participate in U.S.-proposed multilateral cooperation initiatives.
China has put forward a series of important initiatives to address global challenges, which have received widespread support and participation from the international community. China and the United States should jointly provide more public goods for the world, and the two sides should keep their initiatives open to each other, thus enhancing coordination and synergy. This will better promote the well-being of people in all countries.
Issues related to climate change have attracted increasing global attention. China and the United States enjoy great potential for cooperation in the fields of promoting green development and addressing climate change. There is every reason for the two sides to strengthen cooperation in this aspect and make it a new highlight in the development of China-U.S. ties.
During the San Francisco meeting, both Xi and Biden underscored the importance of working together to accelerate efforts to tackle the climate crisis in this critical decade. They welcomed recent positive discussions between their respective special envoys for climate, including on national actions to reduce emissions in the 2020s and on common approaches toward a successful 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changeand on operationalizing the Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s to accelerate concrete climate actions.
As the COP28 is approaching, the consensus reached between the Chinese and the U.S. presidents has undoubtedly boosted global confidence in tackling climate change.
We are in an era of challenges and changes. It is also an era of hope. The world needs China and the United States to work together for a better future. For the shared interests and the future of humanity, China and the United States should jointly shoulder the responsibilities as major countries, work together to address global challenges, strive to enhance the well-being of their peoples, and promote the progress of the human society.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)
