Diplomat underscores peaceful coexistence

China and the United States should find the right way to get along and assume responsibility to promote the healthy and steady development of bilateral ties, which matter not only to the two countries but the future of the world, a senior diplomat said.

In an address to a forum in Beijing on Monday, Vice-Foreign Minister Xie Feng said the two countries, as well as the world, will benefit from China-US cooperation, while suffering from their confrontation. He urged both countries to "stick to the bottom line of peaceful coexistence".

Describing head-of-state diplomacy as a "compass" that plays an irreplaceable and guiding role in bilateral ties, Xie said the two largest economies should fully implement the important consensus their leaders have reached.

President Xi Jinping has met or spoken with US President Joe Biden over the phone six times since 2021, and has shown the right direction for bilateral ties by calling for the two countries to respect each other, coexist in peace and pursue win-win cooperation, Xie said.

Mutual respect is the prerequisite for China-US exchanges, Xie said, urging both sides to acknowledge and respect the differences between their social systems and paths of development, instead of trying to change, or even overthrow each other's system.

Peaceful coexistence is a bottom line that the two countries must hold on to, Xie said. He warned that countries will fail in their attempts to crack down on China in the way they did to the former Soviet Union or to contain China through the "Indo-Pacific strategy".

Mutual benefits

China and the US should work for win-win cooperation, Xie said. As the world's largest developing and developed countries, the two have a lot they can and should cooperate on. Xie called for both countries to expand cooperation, while ensuring the cooperation is mutually beneficial and reciprocal.

Also, China values and asks the US to implement what Biden has reiterated many times to President Xi — that the US does not seek to change China's system, that it does not support "Taiwan independence", and that it does not intend to be in conflict or "decouple" with China among others, according to Xie.

Speaking of China's opening-up, Xie said it should be two-way.

"One cannot ask others to open up, while closing their own doors. This is self-contradictory and will harm others as well as themselves," he said, calling for fair and reasonable competition.

Some countries have waged war over tariffs, trade, science, technology, chips and rules to try to deprive others of their right to develop, which is unfair and dishonorable, Xie said.

The diplomat said the behavior to cut exchange and cooperation will lead to a halt in progress in science, as well as reclusiveness and backwardness.

"One will block their own road ahead by shutting others out," Xie said.

Through recent refinement of its COVID-19 response measures, China has opened its door wider to the world, Xie said.

The readjustment will help stabilize and improve China's economy, and inject new momentum into the global economic recovery, he said.

wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn