China, US officials call for stable ties ahead of APEC meet

Senior Chinese and US officials called for continued dialogue and cooperation between the world's two largest economies on Tuesday, as they addressed a gathering in New York a week ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Nov 18 and 19.

Speaking at the National Committee on United States-China Relations' 60th anniversary gala dinner in Manhattan, Xie Feng, China's ambassador to the US, said the US and China need to "find a right way to get along".

"Across the Pacific, a consensus is growing ever stronger: China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation, and it is vital for our two major countries to find a right way to get along," Xie said.

He called for implementing the consensus reached by the two presidents during their meeting in September, when they agreed to build a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness and reciprocity. "We need to faithfully implement our presidents' important consensus and translate the vision into concrete action at a faster pace."

He added that both sides need to "give full play to the political and diplomatic channel, and also the economic and trade consultation mechanism", and reiterated that "the hope of China-US relations lies in the people, and its future depends on the youth".

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will accompany US President Donald Trump to Shenzhen next week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, addressed the NCUSCR gathering.

"Working together, we can strengthen both our economies without perpetuating the imbalances between them," he said, adding that the US administration's renewed emphasis on economic strength "does not reflect hostility toward our trading partnerships".

With regard to artificial intelligence, Bessent said the US and China have begun to work on a new dialogue on what the administration calls "superintelligence", or SI, to manage shared risks, with plans to exchange practices for evaluating advanced AI models before their release.

"Finally, we are establishing a direct channel to ensure that either nation can promptly alert the other to serious incidents involving its SI models," he said.

The event also marked Sarah Beran's installation as the NCUSCR's new president, while recognizing Blackstone co-founder and CEO Stephen Schwarzman and outgoing president Stephen Orlins as honorees.

Beran is a US diplomat who previously served as the charge d'affaires and deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Beijing.

minluzhang@chinadailyusa.com