Promoting the Forward Development of U.S.-China Relations Through Stability and Cooperation (International Forum)

President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States at the invitation of the US side is of great significance. The face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the two countries not only guides the development of bilateral relations, but also builds an overall framework for cooperation between the two sides. The two countries should take this opportunity to consolidate and deepen communication and exchanges at different levels, creating conditions for the great ship of US-China relations to maintain a stable course.

In May this year, the two heads of state held a meeting in Beijing. In the months since, the two sides have maintained fairly extensive contacts, with communication resuming and advancing from diplomatic departments to law enforcement agencies and to the military level. These interactions have provided a foundation for stabilizing bilateral relations. In the future, whatever differences they face, the US and Chinese sides should, on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit, continue to build a relationship of interdependence and mutual benefit in trade and investment, and seek more room for cooperation in areas such as global governance. Taking the Washington meeting between the two heads of state as an opportunity, the US and China should further implement the outcomes and consensus, open up new cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence and two-way investment, and continue to promote the steady development of bilateral relations.

Economic and trade cooperation has always been an important pillar of US-China relations. At this Washington meeting, the two heads of state recognized the positive role of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism and the results of consultations between the two sides' economic and trade teams, including establishing and advancing mechanisms such as the trade council, reaching a "30 billion US dollars" reciprocal tariff reduction arrangement, and extending the outcomes of the Kuala Lumpur economic and trade consultations. A stable economic and trade relationship is not only beneficial to enterprises of both countries, but also helps strengthen market confidence in bilateral relations.

Artificial intelligence will also become an important area of US-China cooperation in the future. The two sides agreed to establish an AI dialogue, exchange views on AI-related risks and benefits, and agreed to establish a communication channel for AI incidents. Artificial intelligence has a global impact, and the ability of the US and China to cooperate in this field is not only beneficial to bilateral relations, but can also provide experience for building international rules in the field of artificial intelligence. The APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and the G20 Leaders' Summit will be held successively in China and the United States. The consensus formed by the US and Chinese heads of state on artificial intelligence will be further consolidated through multilateral platforms and will help improve global AI governance.

Facts have shown that the so-called "decoupling" policy pushed by the United States in the past has not achieved results and will not do so. China holds an important position in global production and supply chains, and forcibly excluding China's supply of intermediate goods is extremely costly for the United States. The two sides need to face this reality and establish a more stable balance between competition and cooperation. The US and China should, while safeguarding their respective national interests, seek areas where they can coexist and cooperate.

Youth exchanges and broader people-to-people exchanges are likewise indispensable. Due to differences in the two countries' political systems and social environments, and coupled with China's rising international influence in recent years, American society's perception of China has also become more complex. In the face of different voices, rather than remaining at the level of mutual interpretation in the media and public opinion, it is better to create more opportunities for direct contact. Sports, education, culture and youth exchanges can give young people, entrepreneurs, policymakers and other groups in the two countries the opportunity to directly understand each other's countries.

Through head-of-state diplomacy the US and China set the direction, through economic and trade exchanges they consolidate the foundation, through cooperation in new areas such as artificial intelligence they seek new growth, and through people-to-people and cultural exchanges they strengthen understanding, jointly propelling the great ship of US-China relations forward more steadily.

(The author is a senior researcher at the US-China Research Center in the United States.)