Leaders of China and US commit to mutual respect and peaceful co-existence

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his United States counterpart President Joe Biden, have held their first virtual meeting, during which they agreed to work for the peace and the progress of the world, respecting each other’s principles and values.

Mr Xie Feng, the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, in a press briefing document made available to the Ghana News Agency after the China-US Presidential Meeting; dubbed: “Setting Direction and Providing Impetus for Bilateral Relations”, said the meeting was of great significance for both China-US bilateral ties and international relations.

President Xi, he said, put forward three principles and four priority areas for growing China-US relations, which he pointed out would flourish their bilateral relations in the new era and benefit the world as a whole.

Firstly, he said, President Xi urged the two countries to have mutual respect for each other.
The two sides, he explained, needed to respect each other’s social systems and development paths, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, and respect each other’s right to development.

They needed to treat each other as equals, keep differences under control, and seek common ground while reserving differences, he said.

Secondly, President Xi urged peaceful coexistence, declaring that no conflict and no confrontation was a line that both sides must hold.

Thirdly, President Xi advocated for win-win cooperation, reiterating that the interests of China and the US were deeply intertwined.

“The world is big enough for our two countries to develop individually and collectively. The right thing to do is to choose mutual benefit over a zero-sum game or the I-win-you-lose approach,” he said.

On the four priority areas, he mentioned shouldering responsibilities of major countries and leading global response to outstanding challenges.
He said China-US cooperation might not solve all problems, but a few problems could be solved without it.

“The global initiatives China has proposed are open to the US, and we hope the same is true for initiatives from the US.”

President Xi said acting in the spirit of equality and mutual benefit would move forward exchanges at all levels and in all areas and generate more positive energy for China-US relations.

“Our two sides could fully harness the channels and mechanisms of dialogue between our diplomatic and security, economy, trade and finance, and climate change teams, in an effort to advance practical cooperation and resolve specific issues,” President Xi said.

He called for managing differences and sensitive issues in a constructive way to prevent China-US relations from getting derailed or out of control.

“It is only natural for our two countries to have differences. What matters is to manage differences in a constructive manner and prevent them from getting magnified or escalated,” he said.
He said it was imperative for the two countries to strengthen coordination and cooperation on major international and regional hotspot issues to provide more public goods to the world.

In a world that was still not peaceful, he said, China and the US needed to work together with the rest of the international community to defend world peace, promote global development, and safeguard a fair and equitable international order.

On the two principles of common understanding, both Presidents underscored the importance of China-US relations.

President Xi noted the importance of the China-US relationship transcended the bilateral scope, to the global stage world.

“We have no alternative but to get it right, and we cannot mess it up. A sound and steady China-US relationship is required for advancing our two countries’ respective development and for safeguarding a peaceful and stable international environment.”

On his part, President Biden emphasised that how US-China relations evolved had a profound impact not only on the two countries, but also on the rest of the world.

“The two countries have a responsibility to the world as well as to the two peoples. The two sides must not mess up the relationship, and the United States has no objective to change China’s system.”

He noted the need for the two sides to respect each other, have peaceful coexistence, enhance communication, reduce misunderstandings and handle differences in a constructive way.

Both Presidents expressed their opposition to a “new Cold War” and that China and the US should not have conflict or confrontation.