On 21 November 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao was
interviewed by the Washington Post.
The
following is the full text of this
interview:
Premier Wen:
I
know this is your first time in China, so let me start by
extending my warmest welcome to you and your colleagues. I
can quote one fitting ancient Chinese poem to describe our
meeting: "Good friends highly value their words. They
travel a thousand li to keep their promise for a
gathering." In a few days time I will visit your great
country. So first of all I wish to convey through The
Washington Post my cordial greetings and best wishes to the
great American people.
I remember only a couple
of days after the September 11 incident I was here receiving
participants during an international financial conference in
Beijing. And among the delegates to the meeting there was
one lady expert from the United States. I noticed that she
looked very sad and lonely, so I extended my hand to her and
expressed my sympathy, and I also asked her to convey my
solicitude to the American people.
China and
the United States, two great nations, have had exchanges for
over 200 years and across three centuries. And I remember so
well so many touching stories about the profound friendship
and good cooperation between the two peoples. In the 1860s,
Chinese workers, by the tens of thousands, went to the U.S.
to build the trans-continental railroad that links the east
and west coast. The Chinese workers defied starvation and
cold and worked for very meager income. Many other workers
could not endure the harsh conditions. Only the Chinese
workers stuck it out to the very end. Many, many Chinese
workers lost their lives in the process of construction and
there were too many to count. It was recorded in history
that the last sleeper was laid by four Chinese workers.
Hence, in 1991, the state of Illinois sent a delegation to
Shanghai solely for the purpose of building a monument with
3,000 railway spikes and they said that the contribution of
Chinese workers was essential in linking the east and west
coasts and promoting national unity. I also remember very
well that from May 1942 to September 1945 a group of young
American pilots from the famous Flying Tiger squadron flew
the Hump Route to support China during the war against
fascism. The Hump Route was famous for its danger and in
those years more than 500 planes crashed, claiming the lives
of more than 1,500 Chinese and American pilots. That route
was also known as the aluminum trail for the wreckage of
crashed planes glittering in the sunlight. However, that
route is a testimony to the cooperation between the Chinese
and the Americans. The reason why I recall these touching
stories is because I hope our interview will start in a good
atmosphere of mutual respect and friendship. You
may ask questions on the list as well as questions not on
the list.
Q: One of the current issues for
joint Chinese and American action is the current situation
in Taiwan. What would you like the President of the United
States to do to help China deal with the current situation
in Taiwan?
A: The recent remarks and
activities by the leaders of the Taiwan authorities,
especially their deliberate provocations on the referendum
issue and writing a constitution, show clearly not only
their obstinate clinging to national splittism but also
their stepped up efforts at Taiwan independence.
You put the question of Taiwan to me.
Actually, I have also been asking questions: What are the
Taiwan authorities driving at with all that they are doing
and where are they taking Taiwan? Do they still respect the
cherished aspirations of the Taiwan compatriots for peace,
stability and development? Do they really want to maintain
peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits or are they bent
on disrupting peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits? I
believe that these questions are of concern to people on
China's mainland and of concern to our Taiwan compatriots,
and they are also of concern to the United States and the
international community at large.
Our policy
toward Taiwan is a clear-cut one. It is "peaceful
reunification and one country, two systems." We will
not give up our efforts for a peaceful settlement of the
question of Taiwan because a peaceful settlement is in the
fundamental interests of all Chinese people, our Taiwan
compatriots included. But we will not sit by and do nothing
faced with provocative activities aimed at splitting the
motherland.
China's sovereignty and
territorial integrity brook no division and the position of
the Chinese government on upholding the one-China principle
is rock firm and defies all challenges. I hope the U.S.
government will recognize the gravity and danger of the
provocative remarks and actions taken by the leader of the
Taiwan authorities that would undermine the prospects for
peaceful reunification and that the U.S. side would not send
any wrong signals to the Taiwan authorities. And we hope
that the U.S. side would take practical measures that are
conducive to the maintenance of peace and stability in the
Taiwan Straits.
Q: Are there specific measures
that you would like the United States to take? Do you have
specific measures in mind?
The Taiwan question
is the most important and sensitive issue in the China-U.S.
relationship. So on the question of Taiwan, the U.S. side
must be very straightforward in adhering to the principles
of the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques and in opposing
Taiwan independence. The U.S. side must be crystal clear in
opposing the use of a referendum or writing a constitution
or all other tactics used by the leader of Taiwan
authorities to pursue his separatist agenda. And the U.S.
side must adhere to the principle of the Aug. 17 communique
and stop arms sales to Taiwan. This will fundamentally help
maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits. It will
also be conducive to the advancement of the process of the
peaceful reunification of China. It will also be
fundamentally helpful to the maintenance of world peace and
stability.
Q: If the leadership of Taiwan
continues to proceed along the road it is on, despite what
you say and despite what the Americans might say, what
measures is China prepared to take?
A: That is
the most crucial question. Taiwan is China's
sacred territory and is an inalienable part of Chinese
territory. No Chinese government will abandon the position
of peaceful reunification on this question. We completely
understand the desire of the Taiwan compatriots for
democracy, and we also understand their hopes for a peaceful
environment. However, when the leadership of the Taiwan
authorities wants to separate Taiwan from Chinese territory,
no Chinese will agree. The Chinese people will pay any price
to safeguard the unity of the motherland. I assume that you
are familiar with the words of President Lincoln, who once
said, "a house divided against itself will not
stand." He also said that "the Union
(composed of States) is perpetual." It is our
hope that the situation would not lead to that point.
Therefore, we will not give up our efforts for
peace.
Q: China is a very large trading partner
of the United States. Recently, the Bush administration
announced its intention to restrict some exports of Chinese
textiles. Do you believe it will be necessary for China to
take retaliatory action?
A: Problems
that crop up in our bilateral trade and economic cooperation
must be handled properly because the expansion of trade and
the development of economic cooperation between us serve the
fundamental interests of the Chinese and American peoples.
In 1972 when the door was open to our relationship
30 years ago, our trade was practically nil. At the time Dr.
[Henry] Kissinger visited China, each visiting American to
China was only allowed to carry $100 to spend in the Chinese
market. We only started to have statistics about our trade
in 1979, and in that year the trade volume was less than
$2.5 billion. Now, after 25 years our joint cooperation and
trade has developed significantly and trade volume has
already reached $100 billion ? that's a 40-fold increase. So
you can see the development of such a trade relationship has
served the interests of both peoples.
I am
aware of the U.S. concern over the huge trade imbalance. I
would like to give you a few explanations. First, such a
trade imbalance is to a great extent structural and a result
of shifting commercial relations. I will give you one
example. While the trade imbalance that exists between China
and the U.S. is going up, China's trade deficit in our trade
with Asian countries is also going up at the same time. In
the first 10 months of this year, China's exports grew by 32
percent, however our imports grew by 40
percent.
Second, if you look at our export,
actually Sino-foreign joint ventures or wholly foreign-owned
enterprises contribute to 65 percent of our total exports
and more than half of our exports involve the processing of
imported material or parts, and the majority of profits
actually go to the foreign investors. These enterprises
include the U.S.-invested enterprises in China, such as
Motorola and Wal-Mart.
Third, what we sell to
the U.S. market are the products that U.S. consumers need,
and Chinese products are affordable but of very good
quality. So our exports actually help stabilize the price in
the U.S. markets and also satisfy the needs of U.S.
consumers.
Fourth, it is not China's aim to
seek long-term and excessive trade surpluses. Our aim in
trade policy is to have a basic balance between imports and
exports. We are willing to open up our markets to buy more
from the United States and other countries, especially to
purchase high-tech products.
Not so long ago,
we sent a few purchasing missions to the United States and
they signed contracts worth billions of U.S. dollars. That
demonstrates our sincerity. At the same time, we hope that
the United States would grant market economy status to China
and lift restrictions on China and open up its
market.
I can give you an example. A few years
ago, China placed an order for a Loral satellite and we paid
a deposit of more than $130 million. However, the relevant
US departments do not agree. So the contract has
not been implemented and the $130 million deposit has not
been refunded.
In reality, these restrictions
can in no way hinder China's development. In the past few
years, China has continuously sent satellites successfully
into orbit and we also have our space program. For instance,
some digital machine tools, some computers -- with respect
to these projects, China already has very strong R&D
capabilities and in certain areas are actually at the
forefront. Nevertheless, the United States still places
these products on the list of restricted
items.
Q: Given everything you've told me so
far, were you surprised then by the action on textiles and
is there anything China needs to do in response?
A: I'm not just surprised, I'm shocked and the
Chinese people have been surprised and shocked. This
unilateral restrictive action, involving textile products
only worth $400-500 million and without any prior discussion
with the Chinese government, seriously wounded the feelings
of the Chinese people. I wonder if you have taken note of
the response by the international community and the reaction
of experts in the field. Such a decision has hurt the US
market. I want to invoke another Chinese saying: We should
not be afraid of the dark clouds blocking our view because
we are already at a high elevation. With respect to our
joint cooperation in trade and in cooperation in other
areas, it is important to adopt a strategic perspective like
the view you would have when you are already on top of Mount
Tai. Then all other mountains would be
dwarfed.
We hope between China and the U.S. we
can establish a mechanism for regular coordination and
cooperation to tackle the problems that might come up. This
will be one of the proposals I will bring to the United
States because I think such a mechanism would play a
positive role in solving problems. The establishment of such
a mechanism will provide guarantees for equal consultations
as a way to handle our disputes. Arbitrarily imposing
sanctions or restrictions will not help solve the problem.
On the contrary, it will hurt the interests of both sides. I
hope the textile issue can be properly tackled through
consultation between the two sides.
Q: What is
your thinking about the suggestion that changing the way in
which the Chinese currency is valued would make a
contribution to the trade relations between the two
countries?
A: We first began reforming our
exchange rate regime in 1994. It was decided at that time
that we would adopt a market-based, single, managed floating
exchange rate regime. Some people claim the value of the RMB
is fixed and has not changed. This does not square with the
facts. I think it would be more accurate to say that the
band of fluctuation of the RMB is quite narrow. Since 1994,
the RMB has appreciated in real terms by 18.5 percent
against the U.S. dollar and by 39.4 percent against the
Euro. In 1997, during the Asian financial crisis, we
withstood pressure for RMB devaluation and since then, the
band of fluctuation of the value of the RMB has been quite
narrow.
The exchange rate of a country's
currency should be set in accordance with its national
conditions and the state of its economic and financial
sector. There is no denying we still face very daunting
tasks in financial and banking reform. We already allowed
our currency to be freely convertible under the current
account in 1996, and it will take a very long period of time
and arduous efforts before we can achieve the objective of a
freely convertible currency under the capital account. We
are definitely going to accelerate reform of the financial
and banking sector and while we do so we'll explore how to
form a rational mechanism in which the value of the RMB will
fluctuate on the basis of market conditions.
I
don't think the exchange rate of the RMB is an important
contributor to the trade imbalance between China and the
U.S. The increase of China's export is mainly attributed to
the abundant supply of competitive labor in
China.
Q: China and the United States are
working closely together to try to assure that the Korean
peninsula remains free of nuclear weapons. Do you believe
that North Korea currently possesses nuclear weapons?
A: I am unable to give you an answer to that
question because I truly don't know. But I can clearly tell
you our attitude. We hope the Korean peninsula will be free
of nuclear weapons, and we hope that peace and stability
will be maintained on the Korean peninsula.
Q:
President Bush has assured the North Koreans that the United
States does not intend to attack. Are there other specific
steps that you believe the United States should be taking to
try to bring a resolution, to create an agreement with North
Korea?
A: You must have also noticed that
there has been some progress in the process of dialogue on
the nuclear issue. The DPRK has stated that it does not seek
to possess nuclear weapons and that denuclearization is its
ultimate goal. And recently, it has also said that under the
prerequisite that its security concerns are met and the
United States abandons its hostile policy toward the DPRK,
the DPRK is prepared to give up its nuclear program. The
Bush administration has repeatedly said that the United
States has no intention to invade or change the regime of
the DPRK, and that it wants to resolve the nuclear issue
through peaceful negotiations. So in my view, the positions
of two sides are now closer than before.
I
think the best way is to continue with the Beijing six-party
talks so that all parties concerned can sit together to have
discussions on the basis of mutual respect, equality and
mutual trust, and through such consultations they can, in
the end, work out a solution that is acceptable to all
parties concerned and that is helpful for the peaceful
resolution of the nuclear issue.
Q: The Dalai
Lama has declared that he is not seeking independence for
Tibet. Do you foresee face-to-face meetings with
the Dalai Lama and representatives of China?
A: Regrettably, the Dalai Lama has not
genuinely given up his position of Tibet independence and
has not given up the separatist activities aimed at
splitting the motherland. He also has not recognized that
Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese
territory.
We have taken note of the recent
remarks by the Dalai Lama but we still need to watch very
carefully what he really does. So long as he genuinely
abandons his position on seeking Tibetan independence and
publicly recognizes Tibet and Taiwan as inalienable parts of
Chinese territory, then contacts and discussions between him
and the central government can resume. The door to
communication between the central government and the Dalai
Lama is wide open.
Q: China's economic
performance has been very rapid in recent years, creating a
very strong Chinese economy, and great economic growth in a
short period of time. Do you also believe political reform
should be accelerated to keep pace with economic reform?
A: China embarked on the road to reform and
opening up in 1978. Our reform is a comprehensive one which
includes both economic and political restructuring.
Precisely as Mr. Deng Xiaoping pointed out, without the
guarantee of political reform, economic reform will not be
successful. In essence political restructuring in China aims
at integrating the leadership of the Chinese Communist
Party, rule of law in the conduct of public affairs and the
people's role as masters of their own
affairs.
At present, it is particularly
important to do a good job on the following. First of all,
we should develop democracy to safeguard people's democratic
rights and to respect and protect their human rights.
Secondly, we should improve on the legal system through
better legislation, better administration according to law,
and greater judicial reform. Thirdly, we should run the
country according to law, making our socialist democracy
more institutionalized, standardized and proceduralized, and
in this way we can make sure that it will not change because
of changes in the leadership and changes in the views and
focus of attention of leaders. Fourth, we must strengthen
supervision, and we should make sure that the government is
placed under the supervision of the people. We have to
develop democracy and strengthen supervision. Only in this
way can we make sure the government will not relent in its
efforts, and the situation whereby the policy fails when the
leadership changes will not occur.
China is a
big country with 1.3 billion people. So to press ahead with
political reform, it has to be done in an orderly and
well-organized fashion. Now there exist many
misunderstandings. For instance, with regard to freedom of
religious belief, freedom of religious belief is actually
written into China's constitution. China currently has over
100 million religious followers. China has over 100,000
religious sites. Since the beginning of reform and
opening up, one religious site has been either newly built
or restored every three days. You may just take a walk
around the Zhongnanhai compound, and you can see many
religious sites. For instance, the Wangfujing Catholic
church to the east, the Niujie mosque of Islam to the south,
the Yonghe Buddhist monastery to the north and the Baiyun
Taoist temple to the west. Nearest to Zhongnanhai
is the Xishiku church with a long history. You may visit
these religious sites. You will see many people
practicing their religious faith there.
Over
the past 5,000 years of Chinese history, China has been very
tolerant toward the development of religion. Among the five
major religions in China, only Taoism is an indigenous
religious belief. The other four actually came from
overseas. For instance, Buddhism came to China from India,
Catholicism and Protestantism from the West, and Islam from
the Middle East and West Asia.
Q: What steps do
you anticipate will be taken next in political reforms? For
example, might direct elections of local governments be
extended upward to the township level?
A: You
must know quite a lot about Chinese elections. At the
moment, we have introduced the practice of
self-administration and direct elections in 680,000
villages. This is a great innovation, and it is also very
good practice for Chinese farmers. We have also introduced
suffrage for the election of people's deputies at the level
of townships, counties and urban cities without districts.
Indirect elections are held for the leadership of the
provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities with
districts, as well as the central authorities. Why? This is
because China is such a huge country. It has a big
population. It is underdeveloped, and economic development
is uneven between regions. So conditions are not ripe for
direct elections at the higher levels. The first hindrance
in my view is the inadequate education level of the
population.
Q: Premier Wen, you mentioned
uneven development during this period of great economic
growth. Are you concerned about a gap growing in economic
conditions between the more well off parts of China and the
poorer parts of China, such as in the west?
A:
I do have such concerns. Not too long ago, the Commerce
Secretary, Mr. Evans, visited China, and he started his
visit going to China's northwest. He came to see me with two
photographs that were taken when he visited the countryside
in China's northwest. From his visit, he learned that the
countryside in China is still very backward. So I told him
with this knowledge, all the problems that he was about to
discuss with me could be well solved.
I've
personally been to over 1,800 counties throughout the
country. So I'm in a position to say I've seen the worst
poverty in China. So I know very well how uneven our
development has been. Yes, it is true that in the coastal
areas in the East, skyscrapers overwhelm you. However, in
large areas of the countryside, people are still living in
shabby houses with thatch roofs and still use oxen to till
the land. Thirty million people are still below the poverty
line.
So one important inspirational lesson we
have learned from the struggle against the SARS epidemic is
that we have to emphasize coordinated development. And this
is what the new Chinese leadership has learned from the
struggle against SARS.
Uneven development
between the urban and rural areas, and imbalance between
economic development and social progress -- this situation
can be described with an analogy. It's like a human being
who has one long leg and one short leg. If one leg is longer
than the other, this person is bound to stumble and fall.
And a country with one leg longer than the other will also
stumble and fall.
But the problem can only be
resolved through continued development. The
eastern part of the country will be encouraged to continue
with the big momentum of their development. And where
conditions permit, they should take the lead in achieving
basic modernization. This is because through their
development, a lot of financial resources will be made
available to support the development of China's center and
west. At the same time, we're also implementing a strategy
to develop China's western region. And very recently, we
decided to implement a strategy to revitalize the old
industrial bases in China's northeast. So with good
interaction between the east and west, we hope to bring
along development in the central region of the country. With
all these efforts, we hope we can gradually bring about more
coordinated development between different regions. But I
want to remind you that this could be a very time-consuming
process.
Q: Is this also the reason why you are
changing the constitution to protect private property rights
and giving farmers the right to buy and sell land use
rights?
A: We have decided on an important
policy and that is public ownership will be the mainstay and
multiple forms of ownership will develop side by side. To
sum up, we can use two "unswervingly" to describe
this. We will unswervingly uphold the public ownership
system and develop the public sector, and we will
unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of
the non-public sector, the private-sector
included.
This basic economic system has been
written into our constitution, and in the recently held
third plenary session of the 16th Central Committee of the
Chinese Communist Party, the concept of property rights was
introduced. It was made very clear at the session that we
would formulate legislation protecting private property.
Such a move was entirely based on China's actual conditions
in the spirit of seeking truth from facts, because this will
help accelerate China's economic development. It will also
help ease the pressure from employment. It will also give
greater scope to the creativity and enterprising spirit of
the Chinese population and will in the end help us achieve
the goal of common prosperity. At the moment, privately run
enterprises employ a total of 80 million workers and they
contribute to 23 percent of our GDP. In the countryside, we
have the household contract system. It has long since been
stipulated that land operated by farmers can be transferred
in a lawful and compensatory manner.
Q: Earlier
you mentioned the financial sector. Do important changes
need to be made there to provide more financing for the
private sector and business? And does the government need to
take steps to deal with the loan problem at some of the big
banks?
A: Financial reform is the most crucial
part of our overall economic reforms. As is known to all,
the financial sector in China has been plagued by many
problems. The biggest problem is the fairly high proportion
of nonperforming loans from banks. There exists significant
risk. The problem is caused by defects in the system. So we
have to accelerate the reform of the banking system. Our aim
is to put in place a modern banking system whereby the
commercial banks will be commercial banks in the true sense
of the word. That means they will be responsible for their
own operation decisions and they will be held responsible
for their profits and losses. On our part, we will help
create conditions to introduce corporate governance to the
banks through the share-holding system. Those that meet the
conditions can go public or be listed.
You also
touched upon an important point, that is to ensure there
will be more financing in support of small and medium-sized
enterprises and also the privately run enterprises. I have
to admit that not enough has been done in this field, even
though the small and medium-sized enterprises play a very
important role in creating job opportunities and in
providing employment. So while we step up regulation and
improve our capability to avoid financial risks, we should
make sure that the banks would provide more financing and
support of these small and medium-sized
enterprises.
Q: If I may ask one question about
the events of 1989 in Tiananmen. You went to visit the
students there during that time. Have you concluded were
they counterrevolutionaries or were they patriots?
A: In the last century, at the turn of the
1980s and 1990s, drastic changes took place in the Soviet
Union and countries of Eastern Europe. In China, a political
disturbance occurred. At that time, the party and government
of China adopted resolute measures in a timely fashion to
safeguard social stability and became more determined to
press ahead with China's reform and opening up. Our
development over the past years has proven that stability is
of vital importance for China. As Premier of this country, I
think the most important issue for me is to ensure stability
and development. This is because China has 1.3 billion
people.
Q: You've talked about stability being
an important concern of yours here. President Bush has in
two recent major speeches talked about the importance of
freedom as a core American value. Do you see the
core values of America and China being different or similar,
and how does that affect the future development of
Chinese-American relations?
A: Let me ask you
a question. In the past 25 years of reform and opening up,
enormous changes have taken place in China's economic
landscape. Have people from the outside ever seen the
changes taking place in China's democracy and freedom? At
the moment, people can choose what kind of jobs they want to
have, they can choose what kind of information they seek,
they can choose where to visit. Twenty-five years
ago, for a Chinese person to visit a foreign country or even
to visit Hong Kong, part of our own country, it was very
difficult or almost impossible. At the moment, every year,
tens of millions of Chinese travelers visit places across
the world. And in addition, as I said earlier, we now have
freedom of religious belief.
Let me share with
you how I feel about my duties. As Premier of China, my
responsibility is heavy, the job is demanding, and there is
endless work to do. 1.3 billion is a very big number. So if
we use multiplication, any small problem multiplied by 1.3
billion will end up being a very big problem. For a very big
aggregate divided by 1.3 billion, it will come to a very
tiny figure. This is something that is quite difficult for
foreign visitors to understand and
appreciate.
I remember that in the Declaration
of Independence, Jefferson wrote that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain
inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness. He put life before anything else.
So when we say that for the Chinese people's human rights,
the right to life and development is most important,
sometimes our friends in the Western countries find this
difficult to understand. I think they only need to refer to
the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson.
In 1776, in that Declaration of Independence, he already put
the right to life before every other right. The U.S. has
also witnessed the process of development of democracy if
you look at the history, from the Declaration of
Independence in the 18th century, the Civil War in 19th
century, and to the Martin Luther King incident in the 20th
century.
If I can speak very honestly and in a
straightforward manner, I would say the understanding of
China by some Americans is not as good as the Chinese
people's understanding of the United States.
Q:
Speaking of that, you seem to have a very good understanding
of the United States. Have you visited the United States
before?
A: I have not made an official visit
to the United States, but I've been to the United States
during a stopover on my way to South American countries. I
spent a few days in New York and in Los
Angeles.
Q: So you know a lot from what you've
been reading I imagine about the United States. Is there
anything that's made a particular impression on you in your
reading about the United States?
A: My biggest
hobby actually is reading. I don't know how to live without
books. They're my best companion. Let me share with you a
story. Once I had a meeting with the President of the
Republic of Korea, Mr. Roh Moo-hyun, and he told me that in
his inauguration speech, he quoted President Abraham Lincoln
from one of his speeches in 1861. So after the meeting, I
went back home and looked for the book about Abraham Lincoln
on my bookshelf, and I found that paragraph. In the very
same paragraph, I had already used red pencil to underline
these lines.
He wrote, "The mystic cords
of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot
grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this
broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when
touched again, as surely they will be, by the better angels
of our nature."
So my understanding is
that Lincoln's approach to the Civil War had an impact, an
influence on President Roh Moo-hyun on how he's going to
address the problems between the North and the South.
President Roh wants to see reconciliation between the
two.
I want to make one last remark. Last year,
President Jiang Zemin visited the U.S. and this year,
President Hu Jintao has met President Bush twice.
The Chinese side has explicitly stated its desire
to further improve and develop its relations with the U.S.
The United States is the most developed country in the
world. China is the most populous developing country in the
world. To develop friendship and cooperation between these
two countries will not only bring benefits to our two
peoples but also be conducive to peace and stability in Asia
and the world at large. In 1972, farsighted leaders on the
two sides opened the door for exchanges between us, and put
an end to 23 years of estrangement and no contact. That
started the peaceful coexistence between us. Despite the
many ups and downs we have experienced, our relationship has
moved forward. So what have we learned from the past years
of the history of our relationship? I think at least we can
draw three conclusions. First, cooperation will bring
benefits to both nations, whereas confrontation will hurt
both sides. Second, there exists a good basis of cooperation
and common interests between China and the United States.
Third, friendship and cooperation between China and the U.S.
is not only conducive to peace and stability in the
Asia-Pacific region, it is also conducive to peace and
stability throughout the world.
(from:http://www.fmprc.gov.cn)