Email of the writer: dht0620@126.com
U.S. President Donald Trump paid a three-day state visit to China from Nov. 8 to 10. This was Trump’s first state visit to China. His visit also marks the first by a head of state since the conclusion of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the end of last month.
Before President Trump arrived, U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad told Xinhua, “There is a lot of excitement and feelings that this meeting could be very historic and significant for the two presidents.” China also vowed to welcome Trump with arrangements constituting a “state visit-plus” treatment and reaffirmed pledges to build a forward-looking partnership between the two great nations.
On Nov. 8, when Air Force One landed at Beijing International Airport, the promised “state visit-plus” was revealed, with a guard of honor, a military band and hundreds of pupils greeting the U.S. guests. Accompanied by President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, Trump and his wife Melania visited the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, shortly after their arrival in Beijing. They toured the imperial halls, enjoyed classic Peking Operas, including “The Monkey King,” watched cultural relics being repaired at the museum’s conservation shop and tasted traditional Chinese tea. President Trump also showed his hosts a video of his granddaughter, Arabella, reciting “Sanzijing” (“Three Character Classic”) and some ancient Chinese poetry. President Xi praised her language skills, saying her performance deserved an “A-plus.”
Compliments are definitely not the only content of a state visit. In a diversified modern society, it is very natural to see different views existing in different countries, and especially in big nations. As two of the biggest economies in the world, China and the United States surely have many thorny issues to resolve.
The relationship between the two countries has witnessed great progress over the past decades, but there is still some lingering sense of uncertainty hindering further development. From my point of view, the South China Sea issue, the nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula, the Taiwan issue and trade friction are four of the most inflammable points in Sino-American ties.
It seemed that President Trump was very restrained from touching on these sensitive and volatile political topics during his visit. However, against the backdrop of the lousy American economy, business with China really does matter a lot for the outspoken president. During his election campaign last year, Trump called China a “currency manipulator” and threatened to impose 45 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.
Many U.S. officials also complain about the country’s serious trade deficit with China. Frankly speaking, the trade surplus between the two countries has been gradually dwindling in recent years and China does not want such a surplus with the United States. Chinese exports to the U.S. market are mainly low value-added commodities such as shoes, clothes and home appliances, while the U.S. mainly exports high value-added products such as smartphones, software and medical instruments to China. For many years, Washington has been refusing to export its advanced technology to the Chinese market in the name of national security. Such a trade structure and double standards set by the United States make it virtually impossible to balance bilateral trade, even with the unilateral efforts made by China.
It takes two to tango. After almost one year in the Oval Office, President Trump is now more practical in handling Chinese relations. According to U.S. reports, about 30 famous entrepreneurs from Boeing, DowDuPont and others accompanied Trump on this visit to China. They were selected from more than 100 applicants. Chinese and U.S. companies signed 19 agreements valued at US$9 billion on Nov. 8 covering sectors such as energy, food and transport. Vice Premier Wang Yang called these agreements only an appetizer, meaning much bigger deals would be signed the next day.
Chinese never eat their promise. On Nov. 9, Xi and Trump witnessed the signing of 15 documents worth a total of US$253.5 billion. Companies from both countries agreed to join hands on a gas project in Alaska worth US$43 billion and a shale gas project valued at US$83.7 billion. China Aviation Supplies Holding also signed an agreement with Boeing to purchase 300 airplanes.
Despite the fact that this highest-level meeting will kick off a good start to mutual relations and map out a constructive course for the two countries in the coming years, we cannot hope that all questions will be covered and deep-rooted disputes will be solved in a short three-day visit.
However, we should bear in mind that the development of China and the United States is not a “zero-sum game,” but rather a win-win situation. As President Xi said, “The Asian Pacific region is big enough to allow the common development of both countries. A bilateral relationship should be based on hope rather than fear, trust rather than doubt.”
(The author is the editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.)