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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Opinion -> 
A good beginning is half done
    2017-04-10  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    Winton Dong

    dht620@sina.com

    TO pave the way for the meeting between the Chinese and U.S. presidents, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited China between March 18 and 19 this year.

    Ten days after Tillerson wrapped up his China tour, Beijing confirmed on March 30 that President Xi Jinping would meet with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in the wealthy town of Palm Beach in South Florida on April 6 and 7, marking their first meeting after Trump assumed power in January 2017. The meeting between the heads of state of the world’s two strongest economies was arranged in such a short time, showing that both leaders possess a strong desire to have a face-to-face negotiation as soon as possible, so as to help them get to know each other better, establish personal friendship, eliminate some lingering sense of uncertainty and reaffirm pledges to build a forward-looking partnership between the two great nations.

    During last week’s news briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that President Trump “looks forward to meeting with President Xi and exchanging views on each other’s respective priorities.” American media also reported that trade frictions, free navigation in the South China Sea, the deployment of THAAD in South Korea, the nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula, human rights and other potential inflammable points would be hot topics during their meeting. In a diversified modern society, it is very natural to see different views existing in different countries. Under this circumstance, President Xi’s visit is regarded as a timely opportunity for China and the United States to seek common ground, find the greatest common divisor, manage difference, bridge gaps and try to settle trade frictions.

    Instead of the U.S. capital city Washington, D.C., the two leaders chose to meet at Mar-a-Lago resort this time, a personal property of President Trump in Florida. President Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, also attended a welcome banquet hosted by President Trump and his wife, Melania, thus making their meeting more casual and much like a family gathering of the two presidents.

    

    According to the Washington-based Institution of International Education, of nearly 1.18 million international students enrolled in public and private schools in the United States as of the end of March 2016, 353,069, or about 31 percent of foreign students, were from China. Moreover, China and the United States are also each other’s largest trading partners. Bilateral commodity trade volume reached US$519.6 billion in 2016, more than 200 times of that in 1979, when the two countries set up formal diplomatic relations.

    In a highly connected world, all countries are interdependent. The U.S. economy will thrive only if it beefs up cooperation with China and vice versa. Actually, as Trump plans to boost transportation, energy, road and other infrastructure facilities, these are areas where China could offer help. Chinese heavy equipment manufacturing companies such as China State Construction Engineering Corp. have already made contributions to the infrastructure of the United States by helping to put some big-ticket projects such as the New York City subway and a stadium in South Carolina into place.

    A good beginning is half done. Despite the fact that the highest-level meeting will kick off a good start of 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 some deep-rooted disputes will be solved in a short two-day meeting.

    U.S. government officials and media outlets often complain about the country’s serious trade deficit with China. Frankly speaking, trade surplus between the two nations is gradually narrowing 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 Chinese consumers. And for many years now Washington has been refusing to export its high-tech products 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 of China. Moreover, according to Lu Kang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, about 40 percent of the country’s trade surplus with the United States stems from U.S. businesses operating in China.

    Considering President Trump’s tough talk about sticking to the “one-China policy” during his presidential campaign period and the phone conversation he had with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen on Dec. 2 last year, the Taiwan issue is another hard nut that harasses both leaders. Nevertheless, the softened tone of Trump himself after taking power in January and the gradually conciliatory attitude of his important aides (including the secretary of state and secretary of defense) towards China and the suspension of arms sales to Taiwan have already offered some optimism to the Sino-American relationship and dampened the hopes of the Taiwanese leader.

    (The author is the editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily and guest professor of Shenzhen University with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.)

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