CHINA'S PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT IS GOOD FOR AMERICA

Washington, May 10 (WSJ)- The past 40 years have seen a growth in China-United States relations that no one would have imagined when the rapprochement between the two nations began. The ubiquity of "Made in China" products in the U.S. bespeaks deep economic ties; 120,000 Chinese students study in America; and an increasing number of Americans learn the Chinese language. America is likewise present in China: Every day, hundreds of thousands of Chinese travel on Boeing airplanes; young people wait in long queues to buy the latest iPhone; and Americans are the second-largest population in China.

However, despite such closeness in our relations, many American friends still do not know the true China. The visit to America my colleagues and I make this week for the latest Strategic and Economic Dialogue is to implement the agreement reached between our respective leaders during President Hu Jintao's visit in January, so as to advance the China-U.S. cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. It is another opportunity for both Chinese and Americans to improve our understanding of, and relationship with, each other.

A central message we would like to convey to our American friends is that China is committed to the path of peaceful development. Over the past 60 years since the founding of the People's Republic, and especially the past 30 years of reform and opening up, China has undergone a sweeping and profound social transformation. The Chinese people, talented and hard-working, with their determination for self-improvement and a readiness to learn from others, have found a new development path to modernization in a globalized world. We call it "the path of peaceful development." It is a path to promote peace and common development of the world with our own development.

China's economy has maintained an annual average growth of over 9%, its GDP growing 16-fold to become the second-largest in the world. Yet it remains a developing country. GDP per head, a mere $4,000, is not even one-tenth that of the U.S. and ranks around 100th place in the world. We have to create 25 million new jobs every year. In terms of development, China is at least decades, if not centuries, behind the United States.

China has never thought of vying for leading position in the world. We have had more than enough of tough days. The only thing we want is that, with our hard work and wisdom, plus the cooperation and exchanges with other countries, we can lift the Chinese people out of poverty.

That development will benefit not only China, but also the rest of the world—and especially America. For nine consecutive years, China has been the fastest-growing export market for the U.S. American exports to China grew by 32% last year and 33.3% in the first three months of this year. For 40 of the 50 American states, China ranks among their top five export markets.

A recent report by the American Chamber of Commerce in China reveals that 85% of the American companies in China reported good profits in 2010, 78% of them saw their profits grow by a big margin, and 83% of them intended to increase investment in China. For several years in a row, it has been the only growing market among America's top 10 auto export markets.

Large imports of inexpensive yet quality products from China have enabled the U.S. to keep inflation at bay and saved American consumers more than $600 billion in the last 10 years. In the same period, more than 3.25 million jobs have been created in the U.S. thanks to exports to China.

The growing inward investment by Chinese companies has also created a large number of jobs in the U.S. For instance, the Chicago-based Wanxiang America Corporation has created over 5,600 jobs. China has in recent years been the fastest-growing source of inbound tourists for the United States. Last year, as many as 490,000 Chinese tourists visited. They brought considerable business opportunity for the U.S. service sector.

A stronger and more influential China has cooperated with the U.S. in international affairs and played a positive and constructive role. China and the U.S. have conducted effective communication and coordination on such hotspot issues as the Korean and Iranian nuclear issues as well as global counterterrorism, nonproliferation and climate change. In dealing with the international financial crisis, China has helped the U.S. to get through the difficult times. China is a partner the United States can count on.

Our challenge, both this week and at other such summits in the future, is to work together so that growing prosperity on each side of the Pacific Ocean becomes mutually reinforcing.

America has a role to play in the transformation of China's economic growth pattern, as put forward in the recently unveiled 12th Five-Year plan (2011-2015), toward greater domestic consumption. China's market is expected to become one of the world's largest in the not too distant future. If American enterprises seize this opportunity, "Made in USA" products will have more chances to their competitiveness in the vast Chinese market.

China will further open sectors where investment and trade already are open, and will open new sectors to foreign involvement. It will create an environment favorable to the long-term development of foreign investors. China will increase imports and pursue a basically balanced trade instead of a trade surplus.

Washington has a role to play in allowing American companies to capitalize on these new opportunities. Relaxing controls on the export of high-tech products to China will improve the China-U.S. trade pattern, which will in turn boost President Obama's strategy to double American exports.

China will encourage its capable enterprises to move into overseas markets. As long as the U.S. adopts a more inclusive and open policy, many Chinese enterprises, including private ones, would increase investment in America, which will create more jobs locally and help the U.S. alleviate its debt and fiscal pressures by boosting growth.

China will make great efforts to build a resource-efficient and environment-friendly society, develop circular economy and promote low-carbon technologies. New energy, new materials, energy-efficient and environment-friendly technologies and products are precisely where U.S. strengths and its future priorities lie. Cooperation in green endeavors will make a major contribution to mitigating global climate change.

China and America have the capability and wisdom to build trust, address problems, expand common interests and achieve mutual benefit through dialogue, exchanges and greater cooperation.

Ours should be a relationship of equality and mutual trust in which we both take a rational and objective view of each other's strategic intentions. It should be a relationship of cooperation and mutual benefit. We should each respect the other's choice of social system and development path as well as the sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interest of the other side and appropriately manage our differences and problems.

As one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world today, the China-U.S. relationship affects not only the well-being of our people, but the future of our world. We have a responsibility to get along with each other. This way, the China-U.S. cooperative partnership will take deep roots, bear rich fruits and benefit our two peoples and the entire world.

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