The two-day second round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue opened in Beijing on the 24th. The series of overall, strategic and long-term issues discussed by the two sides are not only important for the two countries, but also related to world peace and stability. With prosperity, it has received a lot of attention from the international community.
Strategic Positioning of Sino-US Relations The active cooperation and comprehensive Sino-US relations are the core objectives of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue. In April last year, President Hu Jintao and President Obama met for the first time in London, jointly establishing the goal of building a positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-US relationship in the 21st century, and taking the establishment of the China-US strategic and economic dialogue mechanism as a major strategic move. Over the past year or so, the international political and economic situation has undergone new changes, and people have further pondered and recognized the strategic positioning of Sino-US relations.
What strategic choices will China and the United States make at the historic juncture of human and Sino-US relations? Can we create a new type of relationship in the 21st century? What kind of century will be brought to the people of all countries and to future generations? In this round of dialogue, the two sides frankly communicated in this regard.
Hu Jintao attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech, proposing seven proposals for developing long-term healthy and stable Sino-US relations, and further pointed out the direction for the development of Sino-US relations.
"The importance of US-China relations is comparable to any bilateral relationship in the world in the 21st century."
"The facts prove that the high complementarity between the Chinese and American economies determines that the two countries are not opponents of zero-sum games, but partners of mutual benefit and win-win."
"To create a new history of major power relations in which countries with different social systems, cultural traditions and development stages in the era of globalization have respected each other, lived in harmony, and achieved win-win cooperation."
"through thick and thin."
During the strategic dialogue on the 24th, the two sides exchanged in-depth and frank exchanges on how to properly handle some major and sensitive issues. President Hu Jintao, Special Representative of State Councilor Dai Bingguo said: "It can be said that our dialogue has already made a good start."
President Clinton, the Special Representative of President Obama, said that from the positive attitude shown by the two sides in this dialogue, both the United States and China hope to strengthen cooperation and look at bilateral relations from a comprehensive perspective.
Promoting the recovery of the world economy Since the outbreak of the international financial crisis, China and the United States have joined forces in the same boat, shared difficulties, coordinated macroeconomic policies, and made important contributions to the recovery of the world economy.
At present, the European sovereign debt crisis directly affects the implementation of macroeconomic policies in China and the United States, two of the world's two larger developed and developing economies. In the strategic and economic dialogue, the two sides focused on how to continue to persist in stimulating economic policies and get rid of the "low employment recovery" dilemma as soon as possible, strengthen fiscal consolidation, maintain fiscal sustainability, and prevent the spread of sovereign debt crisis.
Representatives of China and the United States pointed out in their speeches that the foundation of the current world economic recovery is still not solid, and there are uncertain factors such as the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis. The timing of the "exit" strategy must be cautious and the implementation steps must be solid and stable. Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said that in his speech, everyone supported the actions already taken by Europe and believed that the actions to promote the global economic recovery can generally maintain a strong momentum.
Ten months ago, increasing the contribution of US savings and increased consumption to China's GDP growth was once written into the first round of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue as a consensus on how to transform the way the economy develops. Today, accelerating the transformation of economic development is still an urgent and arduous task facing China and the United States.
On behalf of Vice Premier Wang Qishan, President Hu Jintao pointed out that the deeper problem is that we must change the way people are used to and are pursuing. US President Barack Obama’s Special Representative, Treasury Secretary Geithner, praised China’s economic stimulus plan and believed that China’s economic growth while effectively expanding domestic demand and realizing the transformation of growth mode. He said that the United States plans to cut the share of fiscal deficits in GDP by more than half in the next few years.
Geithner said that the United States and China have fulfilled their commitment to cooperation and demonstrated their ability to work closely together in meeting the challenges of today's world economy. The United States and China will continue to jointly address the challenges of economic recovery and "ensure that the world economy will emerge from the crisis and lay the foundation for a strong, sustainable and balanced growth of the world economy."
Opposing Trade Protectionism During the critical period of world economic recovery, the rise of trade protectionism is bound to have a negative impact on the economies of the world.
In the dialogue, China once again clearly stated that it will continue to pursue an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win, and expand its market access position in accordance with international economic and trade rules.
Wang Qishan pointed out that China is pleased to see the US proposal to relax export restrictions and welcome foreign companies to invest in the United States. It is hoped that in this dialogue, the Chinese side will learn more about the US company's efforts to gradually eliminate barriers to high-tech exports to China and treat enterprises in the United States equally. Timetables and roadmaps for recognizing China's market economy status. It is our consensus to deal with the crisis and oppose all forms of protectionism. It is hoped that the two sides will propose specific countermeasures to curb various forms of protectionist behavior in disguise.
In the dialogue, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming defined the US discriminatory export control to China as "a core and key issue in Sino-US trade balance." He said: "I hope that this statement is not a matter of thunder and no rain, but also hopes that it will not be light rain. Instead of canceling several projects, it will eliminate the discriminatory single export control of China as a whole. If the US government can really do this, the Chinese and American companies will benefit a lot."
According to statistics from relevant Chinese departments, China’s current account surplus fell by 34% last year, and it fell by 78.6% from January to April this year. "We are already in a very small surplus range." Chen Deming said.
During the dialogue, the two sides held in-depth discussions on Sino-US trade balance, improving the bilateral investment environment, properly handling economic and trade frictions, recognizing China's market economy status, and the Doha Round negotiations.
Wang Qishan said that both China and the United States face many challenges and deep-seated problems. I believe that through this round of dialogue, the two sides will certainly be able to expand consensus, narrow differences and jointly promote the healthy and stable development of China-US relations.
Advancing financial reforms Starting with the first round of China-US strategic and economic dialogue, promoting financial reform is one of the topics of concern to both sides and the international community. This round of dialogue is no exception.
In his speech, Hu Jintao clearly pointed out that China will continue to steadily push forward the reform of the RMB exchange rate formation mechanism in accordance with the principles of initiative, controllability and gradualism.
Zhou Xiaochuan said that although China is a very export-oriented economy, in general, the major factor that needs to be considered by a large country with a population of 1.3 billion is domestic factors. International factors also have an impact on monetary policy decisions. However, this effect is often less than domestic factors.
The US participants introduced the financial reform bills that they are studying and passing, and the US is trying to balance the prudent management of the financial industry with the encouragement of financial innovation.
Geithner said: "We welcome the recognition of the importance of the reform of the RMB exchange rate mechanism by Chinese leaders."
Although China and the United States do not expect to resolve all issues and contradictions through a round of dialogue, they all believe that this mechanism should be a bridge to promote communication, understanding and trust. Chinese spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said that this exchange will help to better understand the position and policy of China and the United States on some issues and will play an important role in promoting cooperation between China and the United States on relevant issues. Wang Qishan said: "We should show that dialogue is different from negotiation and does not use specific results as evaluation criteria."