Vice-foreign minister meets with US enterprise representatives

Vice-Foreign Minister Xie Feng said it is negative and unconstructive to define China-US relations with the phrase "competition, cooperation and confrontation".

Xie, the vice-minister in charge of affairs related to the largest economy in the world, made the remarks when meeting with representatives of US enterprises in China on Thursday, according to a Sunday release from the ministry.

The Chinese side believes competition with the US should be as benign as a running race, rather than an aggressive wrestling match.

Cooperation serves the common interests of China and the United States, and it should become the mainstream of relations between the two countries, he said.

Xie pointed out China is stepping up efforts to build a new development pattern and will open up to the outside world in a wider scope, wider areas and at deeper levels, and it continues to build a market-oriented, legalized and international business environment.

China welcomes US enterprises to actively participate in this and seize historic opportunities, Xie said.

At the same time, he noted US enterprises are stakeholders in China-US cooperation, and expressed hopes the US firms will exert a positive influence on and urge the US government to scrap the tariffs imposed on China and stop "decoupling" and cutting off supplies.

They were also expected to push for stopping unreasonable suppression of Chinese enterprises, and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese enterprises to operate in the US.