Second China-US Relations Conference Held in Beijing

The Second Conference on China-US Relations: Trade, Diplomacy and Research, jointly sponsored by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Texas A&M University of the United States, George Bush School of Government and Public Service and George Bush Presidential Library Foundation, was held in Beijing from November 14 to 15, 2005. Former US President George Bush led an American delegation to the conference. Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), met with George Bush and attended the banquet hosted by him at the end of the conference. Qian Qichen, former vice premier attended the opening session and the banquet hosted by George Bush and made a keynote speech. Xu Kuangdi, vice chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC, was present at the opening session and the evening banquet.

Participants of the conference from the Chinese side included Dai Bingguo and Yang Jiechi, vice ministers of foreign affairs, Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of the general staff of the Chinese Liberation Army, Zhang Guobao, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, Liao Xiaoqi, vice minister of commerce, Su Ning, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, Deng Nan, vice president of the China Association for Science and Technology, Zhu Daoben, vice president of the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China, Hu Deping, first vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, Zheng Hu, general manager of the China National Petroleum Corporation, Chao Xianghong, senior vice president of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, Min Weifang, executive vice president of Peking University, and Chen Zhangliang, president of China Agricultural University. The participants from the American side included Rob Portman, US trade representative, Joseph J. Jen, under secretary for research, education and economics of the Department of Agriculture, David A. Sampson, deputy secretary of the Commerce Department, Clark T. Randt, Jr., US ambassador to China, Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser, and Arnold Kanter, former under secretary of state for political affairs. Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, and John Major, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, who were in Beijing on visit were invited to speak at the conference. About 500 people from the academic, business, press and other circles of China and the U. S. attended the conference.

The China-US Relations Conference was initiated by George Bush. The first conference was held at George Bush Presidential Library in Texas in November 2003, which was attended by the Chinese delegation headed by Qian Qichen and the American delegation led by George Bush. US Secretary of State Collin Powell attended the opening session and made a keynote speech.

The conference is held biannually in the United States and China in turn and this was the second conference. The 8 main topics of this conference included China-US Relations in the Global Context; Security Issues in Asia-Pacific Region; China-U.S. Economic and Trade Relations; Energy and Sustainable Development; Scientific and Technological Cooperation; Culture, Education, and People-to-People Diplomacy; Agriculture, Research, and Cooperation; and Shared Strategies on Prevention and Combating Infectious Diseases.

On China-US relations, Qian Qichen said in his keynote speech, in the last two years since the first China-US Conference held in 2003, China-US relations have maintained a good momentum of development and made important progress. Common interests between the two countries have been increasing, areas of cooperation expanding and the basis for cooperation has become increasingly firm. But, the world situation is undergoing profound changes. Under the new situation, China and the United States should make efforts in the following three aspects to make their bilateral relations develop further, healthily and steadily. Firstly, to increase mutual trust by strengthening dialogue and communication; Secondly, to expand areas of cooperation and increase converging points of interests in light of development and continuously enrich the contents of the constructive cooperative relations between China and the U. S.; Thirdly, properly handle differences and sensitive issues to maintain the overall China-US relations. Qian Qichen pointed out, China and the United States should respect each other, seek common ground while reserving differences and set an example of harmonious coexistence of different states and different civilizations and common development.

In his keynote speech George Bush said, he and the present President Bush both attach great importance to US relations with China and hold the view that this relationship is at its best in history. The international geopolitics is continuing to develop in the 21st century, but China-US relationship is still one of the most important bilateral relationships. China’s rise is unblockable, and a stable, prosperous and peaceful China that regards its neighbours as friends complies with the fundamental interests of the United States. China and the United States should not be adversaries, but friends. There should be lasting and mutually beneficial China-US relations. China is playing a positive role in regional and international affairs. The United States and China have common interests in areas such as maintaining the present world order, promoting free trade, preventing nuclear proliferation, etc. Therefore, they should strengthen cooperation. He expressed the hope that the United States and China would make joint efforts to make up for the many previously lost opportunities of mutual understanding and his belief that US-China relations have a bright future.

Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, the common interests between and the challenges facing China and the United States are mainly in the Asia-Pacific region. We should respect each other’s interests and concerns in Asia, work hard to push for open and inclusive regional multilateral cooperation, and to increase positive factors and reduce negative ones. The constructive cooperative China-US relationship is the common aspiration of the people of the two countries and the common expectation of the people of the world.

Former US Under Secretary of State Arnold Kanter said, the strategic dialogue between US Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick and Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo is very important. The dialogue does not aim at reaching certain agreement, but at increasing mutual trust and understanding. From the global point of view, China and the United States have common interests and also shoulder common responsibilities. The two countries are faced with common challenges, for which, the two sides should maintain a healthy competitive relationship.

Liao Xiaoqi, vice minister of commerce, noted when talking about the imbalance in China-US trade and the intellectual property rights protection, the U. S. indeed has deficit in its trade with China, but the deficit is mainly resulted from the trade structure, the trade diversion, the different statistical methods and the United States’ restriction on its exports to China. The Chinese side, for many years, has exercised its utmost sincerity and taken many effective measures to narrow the trade deficit. If the US government loosens its restriction on export of high-tech products to China, its trade deficit with China would be reduced effectively. The U. S. should break protectionism in its trade with China. On the issue of intellectual property rights protection, Liao Xiaoqi said, the Chinese Government is a responsible government. Firm in its determination and clear in its attitude, it has taken vigorous actions and achieved great progress. But, it is quite an arduous task for China to establish a relatively perfect intellectual property rights protection system in a short time which took the developed countries a hundred years to build. We are willing to learn the experience of other countries and promote technological progress and economic development together with them. US Trade Representative Rob Portman said, the economic and trade relations between the United States and China are very important to both countries. China exports good quality commodities at low prices to the United States and draws a lot of US investment at the same time. But there still exist some problems that hinder the development of bilateral trade relations.

The conference also had lively discussions on the Taiwan question, the North Korea nuclear issue, people-to-people diplomacy and other issues, which enhanced understanding. The third conference will be held in the United States in 2007.

Chairman Jia Qinglin Meets with George Bush and His Party

On November 15, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, met with George Bush, former US president, and Brent Scowcroft, former national security advisor. Clark Randt, US ambassador to China, was present at the meeting. Chairman Jia expressed appreciation of George Bush for working hard to develop friendly relations with China over the years. Also present at the meeting were Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin.

Chairman Jia Qinglin said, under the joint efforts by both sides, China-US relations have maintained a steady momentum of development in recent years. The good cooperation between the two countries on major international and regional issues such as anti-terrorism, the prevention of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the North Korea nuclear issue benefits China and the United States as well as the world. Though there exist some differences, the two countries share common interests in wide areas and have the basis for cooperation. As long as the two countries view and handle their relations from the strategic height and a long-term perspective, enhance dialogue, exchanges and cooperation on the basis of the three China-US Joint Communiqués, respect and care about each other’s concerns and properly handle differences, new and greater development of bilateral relations would be achieved. Jia Qinglin said, the road of peaceful development is a strategic choice made by the Chinese people and is our long-term plan. China will always be an important force to promote peace, stability and development in the world.

George Bush appreciated Chairman Jia’s view on China-US relations and said that China has played an important leadership role in the Six-Party Talks and that China’s participation has contributed positively to resolving the issue.

Jia Qinglin extended his congratulations on the successful convening of the China-US Relations Conference and held that advocating and holding the conference are of great significance to the development of China-US friendly relations. George Bush also spoke highly of the conference. He held that the participants were all public figures of various fields in China and the U. S. whose speeches were of high quality with substantial contents and that the conference was a success.