China’s Ambassador Cui Tiankai Exhorts Washington To Cooperate with Beijing

Jan. 28 , 2021 (EIRNS)—Speaking yesterday at an online dialogue organized jointly by the Carter Center and the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai remarked, “As we speak, COVID-19 continues to put human society to the test, and the China-U.S. relationship has come to a new crossroads. With the upcoming Year of the Ox bringing in confidence and hope, this dialogue is highly relevant and carries special significance.”  Observing that Jan. 28 marked the 42nd anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s visit to the United States, and that he and President Jimmy Carter

“made the historic decision of establishing diplomatic relations between China and the United States.... Since then, our ever-deepening cooperation has delivered huge benefits to the two peoples, and contributed enormously to world peace, stability and prosperity. ... At this historical juncture, we are facing a consequential choice again. I agree with President Carter that China and the United States must remain closely connected....

“It is our firm belief, that China and the United States can benefit from the prosperity and development of the other side. We can have competition, but we don’t have to be rivals. Instead, we should strive to be partners.... Taking China as a strategic rival and imaginary enemy would be a huge strategic misjudgment....

“Both China and the United States gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. ... Over the past two decades, we have carried out effective coordination and cooperation in a wide range of fields, from overcoming the global financial crisis to fighting terrorism, from helping African countries combat Ebola to addressing hotspots such as the Korean Peninsula issue and the Iranian nuclear issue. It has been proved time and again that when China and the United States cooperate, we can get things done, and that is good news for both countries and the whole world.

“Right now, we face the common enemy of the pandemic and an increasing threat from climate change. China sincerely welcomes America’s return to the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization and looks forward to stronger cooperation with it in these two fields. We also urgently need to enhance macroeconomic policy coordination to fend off international economic and financial risks and inject confidence into the world economy.”

The ambassador emphasized,

“There is no place for McCarthyism in the 21st century, and no one can push the two peoples back to the era of estrangement and isolation.” Cui then quoted the poem recited by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman at Biden’s inauguration, and concluded: “Let’s work together, with courage and hope, to find light, spread light, and illuminate the future for China-U.S. relations and mankind.”