So-called 'decoupling' of the US with China 'disastrous' to all

The so-called "decoupling" of the United States with China will not only bring disaster to the two countries but to the rest of the world, according to speakers at an international conference in Singapore, who said the two countries should forge common causes for global development.

The US is seen to have "attacked China in areas such as trade, science and technology and people to people exchanges," but both countries need to understand that their development complement and reinforce each other, said Zeng Peiyan, chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges on Wednesday.

The center is hosting a two-day symposium jointly with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore and Brookings Institution of the US. Attending it are guests from a dozen countries and regions.

Zeng said decoupling will benefit neither oneself nor others from the macro-economic perspective. It is evident that decoupling will extremely damage the interests of businesses and consumers. According to Peterson Institute for International Economics, a tariff hike of 25 percent on all Chinese exports to the US will lead to additional expenses of around US$2,000 for every American household annually.

In trade, decoupling will lead to manmade breakdown of the global value chain, he said.