Tomas Guggeheim comenta sobre o mais importante encontro da atualidade: China-EUA
(...) The recent frequent China-US exchanges, from high-level officials to local governments, showcased a warming bilaterial relationship, while the business communities in both sides actively expressed responses and expectations for the upcoming summit to elevate the win-win cooperation to the next level, Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Sunday.
SOURCE / ECONOMY
US business community welcomes China-US summit with active responses amid warming bilateral ties
By GT – Global Times staff reporters
Published: Nov 12, 2023 10:49 PM
US commercial and trade representatives have expressedtheir excitement and anticipation ahead of the China-USsummit to be held in San Francisco where the top leadersof the two countries are scheduled to meet, amid warmingbilateral ties and resuming high-level interactions.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunyingannounced on Friday that President Xi Jinping will be in San Francisco from November 14 to 17 for a China-USsummit meeting and the 30th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting at the invitation of US President Joe Biden.
Connie Cheung, a market development consultantrepresenting the Almond Board of California in China, said she's really looking forward to the upcoming meeting between the two heads of state, as well as an improvingbilateral ties.
"I hope the US government can scrap the punitive tariffson Chinese products, and then China will cancel equally," Cheung told the Global Times, noting that the currentalmond trade has slumped due to the tariffs.
According to Cheung, almond products are subject to 55 percent tariffs - compared with none previously.
Nevertheless, despite that challenges remain, Cheung saidthe Almond Board of California still bet big on China market - which is their third largest market after India andGermany. "We are continuing our investment in China, create more innovative products, and hopefully the exportamount will bounce back to the peak time years ago."
"China is the most creative and innovative economy in theworld, and it will continue to develop," Don Anderson, CEO and founder of Evolution Time International - a wineenterprise based in California, told the Global Times in a recent interview.
Anderson noted that there is a huge potential between thetwo countries for trade, with the potential continuingaggressively in terms of technology and agriculturewithout question.
Anderson also has high expectations for direct trade between California and China, saying that California is a powerhouse US state with a very good and strongrelationship of China, which will continue to grow.
California Governor Gavin Newsom wrapped up in October his weeklong trip to China with fruitful results. The US state signed multiple understanding ofmemorandums with Chinese provinces and a munucipalitytargeting cooperation in environment protection andclimate change amid Newsom's visit, including South China's Guangdong, East China's Jiangsu and Shanghai.
The recent frequent China-US exchanges, from high-levelofficials to local governments, showcased a warmingbilaterial relationship, while the business communities in both sides actively expressed responses and expectationsfor the upcoming summit to elevate the win-wincooperation to the next level, Li Yong, a senior researchfellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Sunday.
China's economic resillience and huge market potentialwill help improve business conditions for US companieswhile offering competivie and affordable products, especially as the global economy is struggling to regainmomentum, Li said, highlighting the first official US participation in the just-concluded 6th China InternationalImport Expo (CIIE) as a milestone event.
The US Department of Agriculture led a delegation of US agricultural companies to attend the CIIE, which was thefirst time that the US federal agency participated in theexpo. Meanwhile, more than 200 US exhibitors in thefields of semiconductors, medical devices, new-energyvehicles, cosmetics, and other sectors attended this year'sCIIE, marking the largest US presence at the expo so far.
Amid the warming China-US ties, experts also urged theUS to take pragmatic actions targeting China's concernsregarding key issues.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen several times during his visit to theUS from November 8 to 12, with cumulative duration ofthe talks reaching 10 hours.The pair struck consensus onstrengthening communication and against "decoupling," according to a statement released by the Ministry ofFinance on Saturday.
Amid the "frank, pragmatic, in-depth and constructive" talks, the Chinese side clearly expressed its concerns aboutthe US restrictions on two-way investment in China, sanctions to suppress Chinese enterprises, export controlsand the imposition of tariffs targeting China, Vice FinanceMinister Liao Min, who was also a member of the Chinese delegation led by He to the US, said on Friday at a pressconference.
These measures have interfered with normal economic andtrade exchanges between the two countries, affectedbusiness expectations, and are not conducive to the long-term interests of US enterprises, Liao said. He noted thatChina urged the US to take practical actions to respond toChina's concerns and China will unswervingly defend its legitimate rights and interests in development.
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China-US high-stakes summit highly anticipated
Observers cautiously optimistic on Xi-Biden meeting, serving to stabilize bilateral ties ahead of US 2024 elections
By Chen Qingqing, Bai Yunyi, Shen Weiduo and Qian Jiayin
Published: Nov 12, 2023 08:15 PM
The world is anticipating the most significant diplomaticevent in the coming days as the Chinese and US presidentsare set to meet on the sidelines of the 30th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in San Francisco this week, an interaction between the two largest economies thatanalysts regard is crucial for world peace anddevelopment, as well as the collective future and destiny.
Ahead of the high-stakes summit, a fresh round ofeconomic and trade talks between the two sides resulted in some positive signals, especially a consensus againstdecoupling and the need to intensify communication.
Both Chinese and US experts are cautiously optimistic for the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden. On one hand, they believe that theface-to-face summit - the first in a year - will help bothsides get a more realistic understanding about each other'sstrategic intentions and prevent divergences from turninginto out-of-control conflicts. On the other hand, themeeting may serve to stabilize bilateral relations in theshort term, as uncertainty will grow when the US enters its election cycle next year.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in an earlier release that the two leaders will have in-depth communication onissues of strategic, overarching and fundamental importance in shaping China-US relations and major issues concerning world peace and development. Chinese experts told the Global Times that the Taiwan questionwill be one of the topics of concern for the Chinese side, and that China hopes to enhance communication andcoordination, helping the US side to have a more objectiveview and judgment of US-China relations.
There are high expectations for positive results, some experts predicted, including in people-to-people exchangesby increasing more flights and encouraging exchangestudents. The resumption of military-to-militarycommunication, which is expected by the US side, couldalso be on the list, they noted.
Positive atmosphere
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen several times during his visit to theUS from November 8 to 12, with talks adding up to 10 hours. The pair struck consensus on strengtheningcommunication and against "decoupling," according to a statement released by the Ministry of Finance on Saturday.
Both sides agree to strengthen communication, seekconsensus, manage differences, and avoidmisunderstandings and accidents that could lead toescalating friction. They also agreed against economic"decoupling" and to work together to address common challenges, including economic growth, financial stabilityand regulation.
The consensus against "decoupling" in the fresh round ofeconomic and trade talks has no doubt sent positive signals to business communities in both China and the US, as it signals strengthened high-level engagement betweenthe world's two largest economies, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, toldthe Global Times on Sunday.
Nevertheless, Gao said from the results, there are alsomany areas that are not as satisfactory. For example, thereis no progress in major concerns from the Chinese side, such as sanctions against Chinese companies and thecancelation of punitive tariffs.
Any substantial outcome will remain very difficult and is a test of political wisdom for both leaders, Gao said.
Some US media reported that Xi is expected to speak totop American business executives at a dinner followingthe bilateral meeting, in a signal showing that China remains open for foreign investment.
"I hope the meeting will lead both countries to a more realist picture of the relationship. America cannotdecouple its trade and investment completely from China without causing enormous damage to itself and the global economy," Joseph Nye, former dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, told the Global Times during theweekend.
Partial decoupling or "de-risking" on security issues willcontinue, but total economic decoupling would beprohibitively costly, Nye said, noting that there are alsoecological aspects of interdependence, which make decoupling impossible.
"No country can tackle climate change, the pandemicthreat or other transnational problems alone. For better andworse, we are locked in a 'cooperative rivalry.' The situation is nothing like Cold War containment. I hope theleaders will reaffirm this reality," he said.
Issues on the table
Some US media reported that the Biden-Xi meeting is notexpected to lead to many, if any, major announcements. The AP, for example, said that differences between thetwo powers certainly will not be resolved. Instead, Biden is looking toward "managing the competition, preventingthe downside risk of conflict and ensuring channels ofcommunication are open," according to the media report, citing a Biden administration official.
Some major topics on the table for the two sides concernhow to arrive at a proper and correct interpretation of thestrategic rivalry and how to manage differences. The US cannot allow some people to continue provocations on theTaiwan question, creating new confrontation across theStraits, Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations atNanjing University, told the Global Times.
Another possible issue to be discussed involves judgmentsabout each other's strategic intentions. The US cannotsimply allege China as "being the main factor of instabilityin the region" and it should have a more objectivejudgement and understanding about China's strategicintentions, Zhu said.
US officials said the leaders would also discuss theprospect of reopening military communication channelsthat China shut last year after then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan region, the Financial Times said.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr, told reporters on Friday that he had sent a letterto the Chinese side about re-establishing military dialogue. He believes that this is important to preventmisunderstandings that could cascade into crises, The New York Times said.
"It's highly possible that the military dialogue couldresume," Da Wei, director of the Center for InternationalSecurity and Strategy at Tsinghua University, told theGlobal Times on Sunday. "But we need to wait and see towhat extent the dialogue will resume."
In other areas such as people-to-people exchanges andclimate change, Da believes there will be more positive results coming out of the summit. "For example, byincreasing more flights between the two countries, comingup with encouraging measures for students and so on."
The G20 Bali meeting in November 2022 had initiated theprocess of setting a "floor" and establishing "guardrails," as a result of which lines of communication werereestablished and working groups formed across a range ofissue areas, Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at theWashington-based Institute for China-America Studies, told the Global Times.
"Looking ahead, the most important takeaway from theSan Francisco meeting could be the further consolidationof ties and the ability to troubleshoot on short notice anymajor irritant that might arise in 2024, just as the US enters a raucous election season," Gupta said.
