Speech by His Excellency Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong
Develop China-US Relations and Promote Shared Interests Washington, D.C., April 18, 2008
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon.
First of all, I want to congratulate on the convocation of the National Chinese Language Conference, the first, large-scale meeting to promote Chinese language education. I also want to thank the Asia Society, the College Board and the Office of Chinese Language Council International. Without your generous contribution and hard work, this Conference would not be possible.
I am delighted to attend the conference. And I am confident that this conference will allow China and the United States to promote and improve Chinese language education in the United States by cooperating closer and better in teacher training, text book compilation and improvement of teaching methods. This will certainly be a positive contribution not only to the cultural and educational cooperation but also to China-US relations as a whole.
Now, I wish to take this opportunity to share with you my views regarding relations between China and the United States.
1. China-US relations has developed basically in step with China’s reforms and opening-up process.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-US Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations. It is also the 30th anniversary of the beginning of China’s reforms and opening up. The 30 years of China-US relations is closely associated with China’s reforms, opening up and development.
China has made remarkable progress since the beginning of its reforms and opening up in late 1978. The economy has sustained rapid growth. From 1978 to 2006, China’s GDP has increased from 147.3 billion US dollars to 2.65 trillion US dollars, recording an average annual growth rate of 9.7%. Last year, China’s GDP totaled 3.3 trillion US dollars, ranking third in the world.
The Chinese people’s living standard has kept improving. In the last 3 decades, China’s per capita GDP has grown from 226 US dollars to over 2,500 US dollars, the total number of rural poor has dropped from 250 million to 10 million, and the average life expectancy has increased from 64 to 72 years.
Nevertheless, China is still a developing country. We are the most populous nation in the world. Our economic foundation is weak. Our development is unbalanced. Despite the tremendous progress, our GDP is only one fourth the size of US GDP while our population is four times as big as the US population. Our per capita GDP still trails behind the 100th place in the world. There are still 100 million people living on less than one US dollar a day. These are a few examples of the difficulties and challenges in our quest for development.
We are still a long way from basic modernization and universal well-being for everyone in the country. Therefore, our central task is to continue to work for economic and social development and improve the living standard of the people.
To fulfill this central task, China will unswervingly pursue peaceful development. This is a strategic choice based on China’s national reality and in line with the trend of the times. It means that we will rely on our own efforts, reform and innovation to achieve development. At the same time, we will stay open to the world. We will work for a peaceful international environment to develop our own country while contributing to world peace through our development. We will engage the world in equal and mutually-beneficial exchanges and cooperation for win-win results and common development.
China’s total trade volume was 2.17 trillion US dollars in 2007, with import total reaching over 955 billion. As we continue to strengthen macro-regulation, deepen reform and opening-up and expand domestic demand, our economy is expected to sustain steady growth. Our import total is expected to cross the one-trillion dollar line this year and exceed 1.2 trillion dollars in 2010. This will create enormous opportunities for mutually-beneficial cooperation between China and the rest of the world, the United States included.
China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, and China’s development is an important part of world prosperity and stability. By following the path of peaceful development, China will build better lives for its own people and contribute to the common development of the world. This serves both the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and the shared interests of the people of the whole world.
China and the United States established diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979. Despite the twists and turns over the years, China-US relationship on the whole has moved forward and cooperation has been the dominant feature in this relationship.
In recent years, our two countries have worked together and kept our constructive and cooperative relationship on a steady and positive momentum. The relationship between China and the United States has become one of the most important state-to-state relationships in the world, and China’s further development will give continuous impetus to China-US relationship.
2. Better relations between our two countries serve the fundamental interest of both Chinese and American peoples.
The economies of our two countries complement each other so well that our economic cooperation and trade have been growing fast and benefiting both countries.
In 2007, China-US trade hit a new record of over 302 billion US dollars, which was 15% more than 2006 and over 120 times as much as the trade total when our countries established diplomatic relationship in 1979. Now, China is America’s second largest trading partner and vice versa. China is the third largest and fastest growing market for US exports. From 2000 to 2007, US total goods export increased by 44%. Its export to China alone grew by 301% in the same period.
China-US trade and economic cooperation have brought real benefits to the two countries and peoples.
According to the estimation of Morgan Stanley, about 4 to 8 million job opportunities in the United States are related to trade with China. The quality and affordable products from China satisfied the consumer demands in the United States and saved American consumers roughly 600 billion dollars in the past decade.
The increasingly open Chinese market and the improving environment for investment offer enormous opportunities to the US business community. US direct investment in China proves profitable for US companies. In 2006, US companies realized over 80 billion dollars sales in China. With the total profit of 10 billion dollars, the return on investment ratio is 17%.
A survey by US-China Business Council published in October 2007 showed that 83% of the US companies find their China-based operations profitable, and two thirds indicated their China-based operations had an equal or higher profitability rate than the company’s global rate.
The educational, cultural, scientific and technological exchanges between our two countries continue to increase, which greatly contributed to mutual understanding and cultural enrichment of Chinese and American peoples.
Our concerted efforts in elementary, language, mathematics and science, and higher education have led to fruitful cooperation. Not long ago, the First High Level Education Consultation between the education departments of our two governments was held and a regular consultation mechanism established.
In the past thirty years, nearly 400,000 Chinese have studied in the United States, and right now, there are over 90,000 Chinese students, researchers or visiting scholars in the United States. Over 10,000 American students have studied or are still studying in China.
Language is a carrier of culture. Language education has an irreplaceable role in enhancing understanding and friendship between Chinese and American peoples and in promoting the development of our bilateral relations. The education departments of our two governments have begun to cooperate in on-line language education. We have established over 40 Confucius Institutes throughout the United States. The AP Chinese language and culture course is now offered in American high schools, and in 2007, over 3,000 high school students in America participated in the first-ever AP Chinese language and culture exam. In addition, over 100,000 elementary, high school and university students in America are studying Chinese. This certainly shows that there is a great deal we can do in Chinese language teaching.
3. Better relations between our two countries contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in Asia Pacific and the rest of the world.
Recent years have seen increasingly frequent interactions between China and the United States in the global context. On many issues affecting our world today, from terrorism, proliferation, regional hot spots, cross-border crimes to energy security, climate change, disease control and prevention, and disaster mitigation and relief, China and the United States have more common interests and broader areas for cooperation.
On the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula, the Iran nuclear issue, the Darfur issue of Sudan, Myanmar, Pakistan and the Middle East, China and the United States always stay in touch and engage in dialogues. Such cooperation further demonstrates the strategic and global significance of China-US relations, and effectively upholds and advances peace, stability and prosperity in Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world.
4. Better relations between our two countries require a strategic approach and continued advancement of shared interests.
President Hu Jintao has told the U.S. leader many times that both China and the U.S. have significant influence in the world, and the two countries should always proceed from a strategic height when judging and approaching their bilateral relationship so as to push for continued progress of their constructive and cooperative relationship. President Bush has also said that when China and the United States work together, we can achieve great things. We must always steer our bilateral relations in the right direction, keep to the fundamental interests of our peoples and commit ourselves to expanding mutually beneficial cooperation.
On the strategic level, we both need to promote peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large. We are both committed to stabilizing, developing, reforming and improving the existing international order.
In the security area, the growing challenges from non-traditional security threats, such as terrorism, proliferation of WMD, energy security, financial security, infectious diseases and environmental degradation, threaten the interests and well-being of all mankind, including the peoples of our two countries.
In the economic field, China is a newly emerging market in the process of integrating into the global system, while the United States is the most mature and developed market economy in the world. Our economies have so much to offer each other. There is every reason for us to join hands to build mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation and, at the same time, be the powerhouse for global economic growth.
China stands ready to continue to strengthen the existing exchanges and cooperation with the United States in a wide range of areas, including counter-terrorism, non-proliferation, military, law enforcement, energy, environmental protection, aviation, science and technology, education, culture, public health and youth. We should also vigorously explore new areas of cooperation and build more powerful “engines” for China-U.S. relations.
5. We should handle our differences and the issues in our bilateral relations through dialogue and consultation.
China and the United States have different historical backgrounds, cultural heritages and social systems. It is only natural that we may sometimes see things differently. The key to addressing our differences lies in mutual respect, equality and seeking common grounds. We should always abide by the principles of the three Sino-US Joint Communiqués, respect and accommodate each other’s concerns, and prevent single-issue politics from hijacking our bilateral relationship.
I know that people are following issues such as trade, IPR protection and safety of Chinese products. The protectionist sentiments and the tendency to politicize trade issues, especially the over 50 China-related protectionist bills in the US Congress, are causes of grave concern to us. If the trade issues are not handled appropriately, there will be serious damages to the interests of both China and the United States.
One must recognize that mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation is the dominant feature of the economic and trade ties between our two countries. Given the fast development, the sheer volume and the extensive scope of our trade and economic cooperation, issues and frictions are hardly avoidable. We should give full play to bilateral trade and economic mechanisms such as the Strategic Economic Dialogue, the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, the Joint Economic Commission and the Joint Science and Technology Commission, and seek to address trade issues through dialogues on an equal footing and good-will consultation.
China takes US trade concerns very seriously. We will continue to adopt vigorous measures to buy more from the United States, strengthen IPR protection, improve the currency exchange rate formulation mechanism, and ensure the quality and safety of Chinese products.
It is hoped that the US side will make corresponding efforts to abandon trade protectionist practice, relax the export control against China, and level the playing field for Chinese enterprises seeking to put their investment here in the United States. We hope the US side will work with us to safeguard our mutually beneficial and win-win economic and trade ties.
The Taiwan question is at the core of China’s national interests. It involves the national pride of the 1.3 billion Chinese people, and is always the most important and most sensitive issue at the heart of China-U.S. relations.
The Chinese Government’s basic guideline on the question of Taiwan is “peaceful reunification and one country, two systems”. We are committed to promoting the peaceful development of the relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits and the well-being of the people on both sides. We will make every effort to achieve anything that serves the interests of the people in Taiwan, contributes to the maintenance of peace in the region, and facilitates peaceful reunification of the country. But we will never allow the “independence” and secessionist forces to separate Taiwan from the motherland in any name or by any means.
We hope the US side will honor its commitments of adhering to the one China policy, abiding by the three Sino-US Joint Communiqués, and opposing “Taiwan independence”, handle the Taiwan question appropriately, and take measures to block the road to “Taiwan independence”, uphold the peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits region and safeguard the shared interests of China and the United States.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am aware of your interests in the latest developments in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, and I want to tell you that the incidents in Lhasa and a few other places in TAR were not “peaceful demonstrations” or “non-violence” as some people alleged, but undisguised violent crimes.
No responsible government in the world would sit on their hands while rioters committed violent crimes that seriously violated human rights, disrupted public order and took the lives and devastated the properties of innocent citizens.
As more and more evidence are uncovered, it has become crystal clear that the violent criminal incident in Lhasa on March 14 was premeditated, plotted and incited by the Dalai clique.
The Dalai Lama is not simply a religious figure. He is a political exile who has long been engaged in activities outside China aimed at splitting the country and undermining national unity.
The issue between the Chinese Central Government and the Dalai clique is not one of minority, religion or human rights. It is an issue of safeguarding the unity of China against splittist attempts.
The Central Government of China has kept the door to dialogue with the Dalai Lama open. If the Dalai Lama is sincere, he should show his sincerity in real action. As long as he stops the activities of splitting the country, stops plotting and inciting violent activities, and stops undermining the Beijing Olympics, we are ready to continue the contacts and talks with him at any time.
The Central Government of China has all along paid great attention to the development in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and there have been enormous support for TAR from all over the country.
In recent years, there has been tremendous progress in TAR. The annual average growth rate of the economy has been over 12% for 7 years in a row. TAR is the first region in China to realize compulsory education in both urban and rural areas. The average life expectancy has increased from 35.5 years in the 1950s to 67 years. The population of the ethnic Tibetans in TAR has grown from 1.2 million in 1964 to 2.5 million and accounts for over 95% of the total population in TAR. Over the past two decades, the Central Government put in a total of 700 million RMB yuan for the maintenance and repair of temples, monasteries, historical relics and sites, and religious venues in TAR. The Tibetan traditional culture has been protected and carried forward. These are plain facts of development and progress in Tibet Autonomous Region that nobody can deny.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are seeing great opportunities to make further progress in China-US relationship in the future. At the same time, we are also aware of the challenges ahead. I believe that as long as our two countries approach our bilateral relations from the strategic height, take real steps to translate into action the important consensus of our leaders that China and the United States are both stakeholders and constructive partners, strengthen exchanges at the high level, enhance strategic dialogue and cooperation in all areas, respect and accommodate each other’s concerns, and properly handle differences, we will surely continue to advance the constructive and cooperative China-US relationship and make greater contribution to the well-being of the peoples of our two countries and the rest of the world.
Thank you.
|
