Ding Ding TV report – Celebration of the 45th Anniversary of China, US Diplomatic Relationship

Remarks by Consul General Zhang Jianmin at the Media Conference Commemorating the 45th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the United States and China

“Dear friends. Happy New Year. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese consulate general, I’d like to extend our warmest welcome to you all for coming to join us in this celebration of the 45th anniversary of China, US diplomatic relationship. China and the United States established a diplomatic relationship on January the first, 1979. So 45 years have passed, and on the first day of this year, the new year 2024, President Xi Jinping and President Biden exchange letters of congratulation to celebrate 45 years of diplomatic relationship. Both presidents spoke highly of the benefits of the relationship.

The relationship has brought tangible benefits to the people of our two countries. The relationship had also contributed to world peace, stability, and prosperity. If you look at how far we have gone over the past 45 years, you have many examples to support the conclusion that the relationship is really important and beneficial. In 1979, china and the united states had less than U.S.$2.5 billion of trade. But in 2022, the trade volume between us reached almost U.S. $ 760 billion. In 1979, mutual investment was virtually nonexistent. But in 2022, we had about 260 billion us dollars of mutual investments. And those kind of close economic and business relationships helps create jobs on both sides, helps improve people’s living standards. And it’s also welcomed by the world society.

We need to do more to enrich this kind of exchanges and cooperation between our two countries in the years ahead. At its peak, we had almost 400 thousand Chinese students studying in this country. Every week, we have over 300 direct flights. And every year 5 million visits take place across the Pacific Ocean between our two countries. Due to the pandemic, we still have a lot of work to do to increase the number of direct flights to the pre-pandemic level, but progress is taking place. When we look at how we manage to have such success in our relationship, I think the success can be attributed to the goodwill that exists on the part of our people. Both people are hard-working people. They love their countries, they want to live a good life and they like each other. So I think this reservoir of goodwill and friendship actually lays the solid ground for a strong relationship. We also want to recall the value of ping-pong diplomacy that opened the door of exchanges between our two countries and put an end to 22 years of estrangement between the two countries.

I think last, but not least we want to recognize the strategic vision and courage of the elderly leaders who at that time made the decision to reach out to each other on behalf of the people of the two countries, one favorite quote, I always like to mention, is from late President Nixon. When he visited China in 1972 in February, he was hosted by Premier Zhou Enlai at the Great Hall of the People. It was a welcoming dinner, and both leaders delivered the toast and in his toast, president Nixon said something like that: If our two peoples are enemies, then the future of this world we share together is stuck, indeed. But if we can find common ground to work together, then the chance of world peace will be immeasurably increased. His words were true at that time. His words, I think, remain true today. So looking back on the extraordinary journey of our diplomatic relationship over the past 45 years, what inspirations we need to draw from this 45 years of history, I think, in short, we can say that a good relationship is a blessing for not just the people of the two countries, but for people across the world. But still, we need to build on the momentum of the progress to bring about even better future of our relationship.

So as far as the inspirations or lessons, experiences that we can draw from these, past 45 years, I think I cannot say it any better than what has already been proposed by President Xi Jinping. He actually in his meeting with President Biden, both in San Francisco and even in Bali, Indonesia, more than one year ago, he said that for our two countries to get along well with each other, we need to follow three principles.

One is mutual respect, the other is peaceful coexistence, and the third is win cooperation. Mutual respect, as a principle, is quite easy to understand. This applies to individuals. It governs people-to-people relationship. It is also applicable to state relationship. What is most important is for our two countries to respect each other’s core national interests and the major concern between China and the United States. We have signed three Sino-US joint communiques, which outlines the most important principles concerning sovereignty, territorial integrity, and others. If you look back at the ups and downs, the relationship has gone through. You can see that invariably, whenever the principles are followed, our relationship can progress smoothly. Whenever there were incidents whereby the principles are contravened or are not followed, then we will encounter setbacks or even crises in our relationship. So mutual respect is the most important prerequisites for our relationship to succeed.

The second principle is peaceful coexistence. China, United States have a lot of differences. We speak different languages. We have different history, different cultural traditions, cultural backgrounds. We also see issues differently, we have different positions on certain issues. We were different when we establish diplomatic ties. We are different now, and we will be different tomorrow. So what to do? In the meeting between the two presidents, President Xi said, it’s not workable if China, United states, do not do business with each other. It is unrealistic for each side, try to remodel the other side.

And President Xi also went on to say that conflict and confrontation would have unbearable consequences for each side. So if we cannot change each other, if we have to do business with each other, and if we cannot afford a conflict or confrontation, then the only option is to live together in peace. So I think peaceful coexistence is also a very important principle. And actually, it’s also a fundamental principle governing international relationship. And if China and the United States can live together in peace, the world, the rest of the world will be much at ease.

The third principle, I think, is very important. It is a win-win cooperation. I think this is a trend of times. Sometimes I hear people talk about, there was some game, unilateral sanctions, law, armed jurisdiction, et cetera. I don’t think these would help solve the world’s problems. The world today is one like a giant, a big boat with many cabins. It’s not like each country having its own boat. We have to live with the reality that we depend on each other. No country, no individual, no matter how capable he or she is, has the tools to solve all of its trouble. So it’s important to reach out to each other, to count on each other. If we can do this, then we will all be better off. The world has so many global challenges, climate change, Pandemic, et cetera. And we need to have the spirits of win-win cooperation. We can succeed and we can succeed without inflicting damage on the others.

In the summit meeting between the two presidents, it is also said that the world is big enough for both China, United States to succeed, and actually, the success of each other can be translated into more opportunities of cooperation and benefits for the other side.

I recently visited Boeing and many other companies in the United States. One sentiment that’s the repeatedly shared with me is that they like to see the Chinese economy recover, they like to see the Chinese economy succeed. Because for them, this will mean lots of business opportunities of cooperation, and that is in interest of both sides. Taking Boeing, for example, in the next 20 years, they project that China will require a total of 8,560 passenger planes. And that’s about 20% of total global demands. No one airline producer, no one airplane manufacturer is able to meet this huge global demand.

So I think there is opportunity for every producer. And if China is doing well, it would generate even bigger demand. And it would be an opportunity for the whole world. And as far as China is concerned, we are always willing to share with others, the opportunity of growth. That’s why at the conference on work related to foreign affairs that took place last week, I was back in Beijing last week for this conference. The theme was China’s commitment to building a global community with a shared future. We want to work together with the world community to make sure that we can have a bright future together.

So China is also a leader in green technology, battery, electric vehicles with zero emission. That’s the reason why China has been so active for many years in hosting the import expo, international import expo in Shanghai which has now become an annual event. China has also hosted the supply chain expo. In short, we just want to work together with the international community to let everybody share in the opportunities from china’s growth. At the same time, we want to forge partnership with all others, through the belt and road initiative, through the global development initiative, through global security initiative, through global civilization initiative, so that the world will be a better place for all.

That is also the reason why China is resolutely opposed to artificial decoupling, artificial risking to use another term, because we think this is against the law of economy. This disrupts the stability of supply chain. This hurts interests of consumers, and this also hurts the prospects of world economic recovery. China and the United states need to work together to delivered a better future for our own peoples, and also for the people throughout the world. When China, United States have a difficult relationship, the world suffers. According to one report from IMF. it says that a strained relationship, tension in China-US relationship can cost the global economy, 2 % of its growth. And that’s a lot, especially at a time when we need to do more to expedite world economic recovery. So looking forward, despite the difficulties and challenges we still face, we have hope about the future, especially in California, because we think that it’s the people, it’s people’s aspiration that will bring about the change, that count most.

And when the governor Newson visited China at the first us governor after the pandemic, President Xi had a meeting with the governor Newson in which President Xi said that the hope of China US relationship lies with the people. The people to people exchanges actually lays the foundation of our relationship. And the future of China US relationship depends on the youth and that vitality of the relationship exists with the sub national entities. We are very encouraged to see that in the wake of the San Francisco summit, we are seeing more and more two-way visits, many Chinese governor, many Chinese provincial officials are coming or have come to visit the United States. And we are also hearing plans from many organizations about organizing tours or delegations to visit china, this is very encouraging. We think that as we work to increase the number of direct flights, as we work to promote more people-to-people exchanges, we do have a chance of improvement, further improvement in China-US relationship.

But still, it requires solid work, and we would count on your support. I have with me before I conclude, a letter from 8-year-old elementary school student from the United States, she wrote me a letter before Christmas. I think that it’s interesting or it’s meaningful to share it with you. She said, dear ambassador, I’m 8 years old. I think China is really cool, your friend. So I’m really proud of this friendship from 8-year-old American girl. I do believe somewhere in China, her peer, an 8-year-old Chinese girl or Chinese boy, also have the same spontaneous and genuine desire to forge friendship, make friends with their American peers. And I think that’s really the future of our relationship. Give you the hope, the strength to overcome whatever difficulties that may crop up.

With this, I would like to conclude my remarks on China-US relationship. And media has always been playing a very instrumental role in promoting mutual understanding and trust between our two countries. So I want to thank all of you for your hard work. I want to wish all of you a happy New Year. I look forward to working together with you in the days ahead in this important year. Thank you.”