Respected President Siva Yam,

Members of the US-China Chamber of Commerce,

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

It's such a great pleasure for me to attend the 21st Annual US-China Trade Conference. I wish to thank President Siva Yam for the invitation. I remember my last in-person participation of the Conference was in 2019. In the past two years, despite the difficulties caused by COVID-19 pandemic, however, US-China Chamber of Commerce has never stopped promoting China-US economic and trade cooperation and actively serving its members. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the US-China Chamber of Commerce for its contribution to promoting China-US economic and trade cooperation. 

I know that you are all very interested in China-U.S. relations and would like to hear me talk about "How will future China-U.S. Relations Impact Businesses". I would like to share with you some views on China-U.S. Relations.

This year marks the 43rd anniversary of the establishment of China-U.S. diplomatic relations and the 50th anniversary of President Nixon's visit to China. The most important event in international relations over the past 50 years was the reopening and development of China-U.S. relations. Despite many twists and turns, our bilateral relations has kept moving forward and achieved fruitful results, benefiting our two peoples and having greatly contributed to peace, stability and prosperity of the world.

China attaches great importance to China-U.S. relations. China always thinks that with different histories, cultures and social systems, it is only natural that our two countries may disagree on some issues. However, as two countries that have great influences in the world and the world's two largest economies, China and the U.S. must manage their bilateral relations on a rational basis. The history of the development of China-U.S. relations proved again and again that China and the U.S. stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation.

President Xi Jinping pointed out that The China-US relationship is not a multiple-answer question of whether they should have good relations, but a compulsory question of how. To maintain and develop sound and stable relations between China and the U.S. not only conforms to the interest of both counties and peoples, but also meets the common expectations of the international community.

During the virtual meeting with President Biden, President Xi Jinping raised three principles for China and the U.S. to follow. First, mutual respect. The two countries need to respect each other's social systems and development paths, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and respect each other's right to development. We need to treat each other as equals, keep differences under control, and seek common ground while reserving differences. Second, peaceful coexistence. No conflict and no confrontation is a line that both sides must hold. Third, win-win cooperation. With interests deeply intertwined, China and the U.S. should choose mutual benefit over zero-sum game or the I-win-you-lose approach. The world is big enough for the two countries to develop individually and collectively. 

President Xi Jinping also briefed President Biden China's development path and strategic intentions. The Communist Party of China has led Chinese people of all ethnic groups to work hard and relentlessly for a whole century for the purpose of achieving happiness for Chinese people and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. A lot has been accomplished in this regard and CPC thus has won wholehearted support from all Chinese people. Generally speaking, the living standard of 1.4 billion Chinese people has only reached a moderately prosperous level. We need to keep working hard to address the unbalanced and inadequate development. The Chinese people's aspiration for a better life is always the goal for the CPC and Chinese government to strive for.

During the two leaders' meeting, President Biden stated clearly that the US side does not seek a new Cold War with China, does not aim to change China's system, does not seek the revitalization of its alliances to target at China, does not support "Taiwan independence" and has no intention to seek a conflict with China. President Biden echoed that the U.S and China should respect each other, seek peaceful coexistence and avoid conflicts. He also agreed that the two sides should enhance exchanges in all levels and fields.

Unfortunately, the China-U.S. relationship, instead of getting out of the predicament created by the previous US administration, has encountered a growing number of challenges. The source of the problem is that some people from the US side misunderstood, misjudged, or even deliberately distorted China's development path and strategic intention. They unilaterally define our bilateral relationship as one of competition and confrontation, treat China as an adversary or even an enemy, and try their best to contain China.

The Chinese nation has always held such beliefs as "peace is most precious" and "harmony without uniformity". The Chinese people have always loved peace. China will never pursue development at the expense of other nations' interests. We have no interest in competing with anyone for spheres of influence. And China's development poses no threat to any other country. Since the founding of the People's Republic, China has not provoked a single war or occupied any inch of foreign territory. Neither has China the intention to sell its development path around the world. On the contrary, China encourages all countries to find development paths tailored to their respective national conditions. We believe that the world is diversified and colorful. Different cultures and different nations should and also could live in harmony with exchanges and mutual learning for common development.

In the area of economic and trade cooperation, policies of U.S. Side are confusing and disappointing. The Section 301 tariffs initiated by the previous administration, harming others as well as the U.S. itself, are already ruled as "unlawful" by WTO, but they are still in place. Economy and trade issues are more and more politicized. A growing number of Chinese companies are being added to the sanction list overnight because they are claimed to be a threat to American national security. Unwarranted suppression of Chinese enterprises has severely affected global industry chain and supply chain. In fact, it is American companies and consumers who bear 90% of the tariffs. The "Trade War" has caused US companies to lose market value of more than one trillion USD, and cost every household over 1000 USD each year. I believe our friends from business community might have a strong feeling of this situation. 

What China-U.S. economic and trade relations really mean to our two countries? How should we handle and develop China-U.S. economic and trade relations?

This question reminds me of words of the CEO of a U.S. Fortune 500 list company not long ago. The top-ranked company has further increased its investment in the Chinese market and continued to expand over the past few years. When talking about the impact of China-U.S. Relations on economy and trade, he said, "Our company has a history of more than 100 years. Therefore, when we look at development, from both challenges and opportunities perspective, it will not be for only the next few years, sometimes even not a dozen years, but a vision of coming decades, or even longer." There are good reasons behind what he said. The business community is a direct beneficiary of China-U.S. cooperation, and the people of our two countries are also both participants and beneficiaries of China-U.S. exchanges. The choice and efforts of our two sides will certainly affect and determine the future of China-U.S. cooperation and relations.

Firstly, after half a century of development, China is now one of the largest and most important trade and investment partners of the United States. The economies of China and the United States have long been deeply intertwined, highly complementary to each other, and the ties have already become an important part of the daily life of both peoples. It is simply not possible for the two sides to "decouple". 

The two-way investment between China and the United States now has a cumulative stock exceeding 250 billion US dollars. Currently more than 70,000 American companies are operating in China with their sales volume in Chinese market amounting to over 700 billion USD and profits over 50 billion USD. China-US economic and trade cooperation has created 2.6 million jobs in US while Chinese companies investing in US themselves creating more than 260,000 jobs for Americans.

In 2021, despite the turmoil in China-U.S. relations and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade value of goods between China and the US grew by 28.7%, reaching more than 750 billion US dollars. In the first four months of this year, China-U.S. trade value continued to grow by more than 8%. This fully demonstrates the huge potentials of bilateral economic and trade cooperation and reflects true choice of the people and the business community of our two countries as as well as that of the market itself. 

Secondly, the fundamentals of Chinese economy with its strong resilience, great potentials, and long-term good prospects have not changed and will not change. China's development means opportunities for all countries, including the United States. Despite the changes of the domestic and international economic environment and the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, China's GDP grew by 8.1% last year, achieving the dual goals of higher growth and lower inflation.

At present, China's per capita GDP is just 12,551 US dollars, less than one-fifth of that of the United States. China is implementing the new development philosophy, fostering new development paradigm, and unswervingly promoting high-quality development. This process will continue to unleash the huge advantages and demand potentials of a large-scale economy, injecting great momentum to the world economy.

Take green development as an example, China has set the targets of reaching carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. The Chinese government has begun to formulate action plans that will vigorously promote the green transformation and upgrading of the economy, energy and industrial structure. This will drive massive investment and create broader market opportunities for cooperation between China and the U.S. as well as between China and other countries.

Thirdly, China's confidence and determination to continue reform and opening-up will not waver, it will not change its determination to expand opening-up at a higher level, nor will it change its determination to share development opportunities with the world.

At present, China's negative list for foreign investment access is getting shorter and shorter. We are improving services for promoting foreign investment, and launching comprehensive pilot cities for wider opening-up in the service sector. China is also making solid progress in building the pilot Free Trade Zone and the Hainan Free trade port, and vigorously promoting institutional opening-up in rules, management and standards. On January 1 this year, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has officially entered into force. China will earnestly fulfill its obligations, deepen economic and trade cooperation with all parties to the RCEP, further integrate itself into the regional and world economy for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.

The Chinese government has always been committed to creating a market-oriented and law-based business environment that is up to international standards. Intellectual property rights protection has been frequently mentioned in China-U.S. economic and trade relations. Actually, we have been working tirelessly to better protect intellectual property rights. China has set up local intellectual property courts at the provincial and municipal levels, and enforcement of IPR laws and regulations has been continuously strengthened. China is itself a major country in intellectual property patent rights and innovation. Strengthening IPR protection is an inevitable requirement for China to achieve high-quality development.

China has attached great importance to the wishes of U.S. business community to travel to China easily. We have overcome difficulties to have arranged "fast track" channels for important business travels. We believe that the difficulties caused by the pandemic will eventually prove to be temporary.

China has always been committed to maintaining the stability and development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations with an objective and rational attitude. We are working hard to remove disturbances and do our best to implement the Phase I trade agreement. Economic and trade issues should not be politicized and we as always welcome American companies to operate and develop in China. We believe that both sides should provide a fair, open and non-discriminatory environment for companies from both countries. We urge the U.S. side to stop using trade as a political tool and stop abusing or overstretching the concept of national security to suppress Chinese businesses. China is also willing to strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination with the U.S. and cooperate on keeping the global industrial and supply chains safe, as well as maintaining global economic and financial stability, so as to boost the economic growth of both countries and the world.

The Section 301 tariffs have had a severe impact on China-U.S. trade and imposed a heavy burden on the American people and businesses. As inflation continues to rise, global economic recovery is facing challenges. We hope that the U.S. side will act in the fundamental interests of consumers and producers in both countries and remove all additional tariffs on exports from China so as to bring bilateral economic and trade relations back to the right track at an early date.

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends,

President Xi pointed out that the most important event in international relations in the coming 50 years will be for China and the U.S. to find the right way to get along. Today, China-U.S. relations are at a new historical juncture. Through our communication with Mid-west local governments, business communities and people from all walks of life, we have felt the solid public support for China-U.S. relations. Judging from the historical trend, the future of China-U.S. relations is bright. We hope to work with the U.S. side in accordance with the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, proceed from the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the people of the world, adhere to mutual respect, strengthen dialogue and exchanges, expand practical cooperation and promote mutual benefit and common development. We sincerely hope China-U.S. relations will get back on the track of healthy and stable development, which will benefit people of the two countries and the whole world.

Thank you!