The differences between the United States and China "should be seen as opportunities, possibilities for mutual learning, for cooperation," Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai has said.
"I don't know why people like the term 'Cold War' so much. The correct lesson we should learn from past history is that such a cold war serves nobody's real interest," said Cui in an online interview with Nicholas Burns, executive director of the Aspen Strategy Group, and Andrea Mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent of NBC News, while attending the 2020 Aspen Security Forum on Aug. 4.
"Today we are in the 21st century. Why should we allow history to repeat? Why should we repeat what happened in the last century when we are faced with so many new challenges, global challenges? I don't think a new cold war would serve anybody's interests or will give us any solution to the problem," Cui said, responding to a question on the recent speech on China by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Nixon Library.
"If we have a close look at the history of our relations since President (Richard) Nixon's visit to China, or since Dr. (Henry) Kissinger visit to China, several things are quite clear," said the ambassador.
"First, the normalization of relations between our two countries and the growth of this relationship over the decades has served the interests of both countries and the world very well," he said. "It's quite clear that all of us are still enjoying the positive outcome, the benefits of the growth of this relationship. Nobody can really deny this."
Secondly, "our two countries, of course, are very different in terms of historical heritage, culture, economic development, and political system, and so on and so forth. These differences will be there, maybe for quite a long time to come," he said.
"But they should not be seen as barriers for closer relations between us," he said.
"We are two different countries, but we have to work together. We have to understand we are living in the same world. We are living in this small global village," Cui said. "There are so many global challenges we share. Neither of our countries can really handle all these things all by itself." Cui said.
