The opinion that China-U.S. relationship will not be able to return to its past should not mean ignoring the history altogether and starting all over again, let alone impractical decoupling, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday.
Wang made the remarks in Beijing when addressing the China-U.S. Think Tanks Media Forum held via video link.
He said that some people in the United States claimed that the engagement policy over the past decades had been a failure, and that the United States had been ripped off in its cooperation with China.
Such a comment "disrespects history and conflicts with the fact," Wang said.
China and the United States were allies who fought side by side during WWII. In the 1970s, the two sides reopened the door toward establishing diplomatic ties on the basis of respecting the different systems of each other, Wang said, noting that "our dialogue and cooperation have come a long way" thanks to the political wisdom and strenuous efforts by one generation after another.
"It reveals the inherent law of China-U.S. relations, and also represents the trend of the times," he said.
In the past 40 years and more since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and the United States have made the best use of their complementarity, and their interests have become highly integrated.
China's success is attributable to its opening-up to and cooperation with the United States and the world. And China's development has provided the United States with sustained growth impetus and a huge market, Wang said.
"From regional hotspots to counter-terrorism and nonproliferation, from international financial crisis to disease prevention and control, China and the United States have jointly accomplished many great things to the benefit of not only the two countries but also the world," he said.
Wang suggested that the two sides should develop bilateral relations on past achievements and keep pace with the times.
"Despite the impact of COVID-19, 74 percent of U.S. businesses in China said they plan to make more investment here," he said, adding that 191 agricultural organizations had sent a joint letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, calling for continued implementation of the phase one trade agreement.
Wang added that many U.S. universities have openly expressed their support for closer China-U.S. educational exchanges. And many global leaders have called on China and the United States to increase dialogue and cooperation and avoid confrontation and decoupling.
"These are the advice we must heed. More important, they are also the goals we must work for," he said.
