‘The China-U.S. Relationship Belongs to Our People and Its Future Should Be Defined by the People’

May 27, 2019 (EIRNS)—U.S. and Chinese leaders joined together at last week’s “U.S.-China Governors’ Collaboration Summit” to mobilize the 400 officials and business people from China and 20 U.S. states and territories to help restore goodwill and trust between the U.S. and China.

The U.S. National Governors Association (NGA) featured the closing remarks of Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin in its press release on the summit: “When one side wins, the other side wins. When China is strong, it is good for America. When America is strong, it is good for China.” Bevin also said that “there’s no governor in America ... that does not want these [trade] agreements to be done and done soon,” Xinhua reported.

The NGA reported also that China’s Ambassador Cui Tiankai spoke of how “cooperation is the only right option for our two countries.... Both the Chinese and the American people are pursuing a better life. This is our common goal.”

Former Missouri Gov. Bob Holden agreed, telling Xinhua at the summit that in his travels to China, “what struck him most is the ‘wonderful’ people who want their children to have a better opportunity than they have, ‘which is the very same value system that we have in ... the heartland of the United States.’ ”

That commonality was the center of Cui’s speech on May 23, which is available in full on the China Embassy website.

“Every time I come to Kentucky, I feel like I am returning home. Here, I always find true friendship, not groundless suspicions; our people focus on cooperation, not confrontation; and we share hope for greater engagement and understanding, not the so-called ‘decoupling’ or estrangement,” Cui said.

He continued that he finds the same spirit wherever he travels in the U.S.

“The friendly, open-minded, hard-working and independent American people always remind me of my country and my compatriots thousands of miles away. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Thanks to the hard work of successive generations, my country has become what it is today. Hundreds of millions of people have blazed their paths, step by step, out of poverty, and they have been still working tirelessly, bit by bit, to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The painstaking efforts of the 1.4 billion Chinese people, including workers, farmers, scientists and entrepreneurs must not be taken for granted....

“No country can prosper alone,”

Ambassador Cui cautioned. China “regards the U.S. as an important cooperation partner,” but trade frictions are hurting.

“We need to pay serious attention to this, and not let some ill-informed, ill-intentioned people incite a ‘new Cold War’ at the expense of the people’s interests.... [T]he China-U.S. relationship belongs to our people and its future should be defined by the people.”