Hello, Director Dawei! It is a great pleasure to have you with us today.
Dawei: Thank you for coming.
As we often say, time flies very fast. January 1, 2024 will mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. Over the past 45 years, China-Us relations have had their ups and downs, which we will not go into here. But we can also sum up, what kind of inspiration does the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States have for the world? And what benefits does it bring to the world?
Da Wei: From 1949 to 1979, China and the United States had no diplomatic relations. So in the middle -- just now you said that after going through ups and downs, a diplomatic relationship was finally established, and China-Us relations have made great progress since then. In fact, I think the first thing to make clear is that in the final analysis, China-Us relations should be better; In the final analysis, China and the United States cannot be separated. The people of the two countries have the need for exchanges, and the two countries still need to come together from the perspective of interests. After 1949, we even, for example, fought a war in the Korean battlefield, experienced both the hot war and the Cold War, and finally overcame difficulties and came together. I think this shows that China and the United States are close and exchanges, which is the need of both our people and our country.
In addition, the process of establishing diplomatic relations, we actually look back at the 1970s, from Nixon's visit to China in 1972 to the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979, China and the United States were very different at that time. In the 1970s, including Nixon's visit to China, we in China were still in a very "left" years. In the United States, the Nixon administration is a Republican Party, the Republican Party is the right wing of the United States, the political right; And then Nixon was the hardliner on the right. The two countries were very different. But our two countries are able to transcend ideological differences, beyond differences in basic national institutions, and beyond differences in specific interests, because we have some common interests and can come together. This shows that if we want to move forward in China-Us relations, we need to transcend these differences in ideology, values and national systems and take our respective national interests as the fundamental basis. I think in this way, China-Us relations will be able to move forward. I think this is the biggest, I think the biggest revelation, the two Revelations.
As for the benefits of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, there are many. First of all, we actually think that one of the biggest things that we often don't realize is that there are things that don't happen that you don't realize how bad it is when it happens. For example, Sino-US relations first eased after the ice was broken in 1972. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979, there has been no war between China and the United States, no period of particular tension, and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole has been very peaceful. As a result of this relaxation between China and the United States, the Cold War situation in the entire Asia-Pacific region gradually ended, which provided a very good and peaceful external environment for the economic and social development of the entire Asia-Pacific region, including China and the United States.
Today, 45 years later, when we look back, it is easy to take it for granted, as if our region was inherently peaceful. It is not. If we had not broken the ice 51 years ago and established diplomatic relations 45 years ago, the environment of our region might have been very poor. It's just -- I'll say it didn't happen, and we take it for granted. Therefore, I think the biggest benefit of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States is that it provides a peaceful and stable external environment for the whole world, especially for the Asia-Pacific region and for both China and the United States. Of course, both China and the United States have achieved great development in the region, and I think both countries have benefited. There are many strategic cooperation between the two countries, as well as economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, which are of great benefit to both countries.
In other words, in the past 45 years, China and the United States have come together from two countries with completely different national systems and different ideologies to establish diplomatic relations.
Da Wei: Yes.
But it also caters to the needs of the people and the needs of the country and comes together.
Da Wei: Yes, and in fact, both our countries have enjoyed the dividends of peace. We can also say that this region and even the whole world have actually enjoyed the dividends brought by the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States.
Yes, it brings a lot of benefits to both countries and the world. But some people in the United States believe that the United States made a historic mistake by establishing diplomatic relations with China and opening the door for China to enter the World Trade Organization.
Da Wei: This is a small group of people in the United States, and there has been such noise in recent years. I would like to say that, first of all, this is not the voice of the mainstream in the United States. Of course, I totally disagree with this view. There's something fundamentally wrong with that, and that's what I said, first of all they make the mistake that I said before, they take everything for granted. In fact, without the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, without the subsequent rapid development of China-Us relations, including China's accession to the WTO and the rapid development of the Chinese and American economies, in fact, our entire external environment and the entire external environment of the United States would have been much worse than it is now, and the United States would not have benefited.
In addition, let's not say that, even after the establishment of diplomatic relations, of course, China's economy has made considerable development, but in fact, the United States has also made considerable economic development. After the United States established diplomatic relations with China, not only did we change the whole pattern of the Cold War, but the United States became the only superpower in the world after the Cold War. This is actually the United States - we can say that power has reached its zenith. The United States, of course, has benefited greatly from this overall peace dividend.
Of course, when we look at China today, for example, China's economic rise and China's scientific and technological development, some people in the United States have an imbalance in their minds. In fact, we do not have to go back too far in history to look at the past few decades, the United States' economic share in the global economy has been broadly stable. At the end of the Cold War, the U.S. economy was about a quarter of the size of the global economy, 25 percent; The United States today is about 24 percent. If you look at it that way for 30 years, not much has changed. Of course there are ups and downs, the United States once reached nearly 30%, in the late 1990s; But then it went back to 25%, so it stayed roughly on this line.
Of course, as China has risen, the share of some countries has declined accordingly. But the United States has actually remained stable, and the United States, as I said, has developed economically in the process, and has become the sole superpower in the world. The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States has brought a lot of cheap goods and consumer goods to the United States, which has helped the United States to calm down prices; China buys US Treasury bonds; A large number of Chinese students and Chinese people go to the United States in large numbers, and the people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States have made great contributions to the United States.
In fact, if the United States looks at itself, it should admit that it has gained a lot. This part of the thinking is that he is a bit unbalanced compared to China, because China has developed very fast in the last 40 years. So, this is what we call "relative benefit, absolute benefit". There is no question about the absolute benefit of the United States, and both China and the United States have absolute benefits. But maybe some people in the United States think that compared with China, its benefits are not so big, then his heart is unbalanced. In fact, compared with China, few countries in the world have developed as much as China in the past 40 years. China has actually experienced a miracle. Therefore, I think this kind of voice of the United States is a kind of expression of the loss of China after the rise of the current, I think this view is completely disagreed with.
I know that you have been to the United States not long ago to have exchanges with some local experts and scholars. Will the mainstream voices among them think that the United States will suffer from the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States?
Da Wei: The American scholars I have contacted, I think, are really doing China (research), studying China, I have not heard anyone say that the United States is at a loss. Of course, they may have their criticisms and complaints about specific policies, specific things for example. I guess that's inevitable. But by and large, I don't think that's the case among mainstream American China experts. But a problem in the United States now is that these mainstream experts who do China (research) and study China, their voice and volume in the overall decision-making of the United States is actually limited. The US policy towards China is often influenced by, for example, the security sector or some ideological sector, including various voices on social media. There's a lot of noise outside the professional world that I was talking about. China and the United States, as well as countries around the world, are all facing such a state in their diplomatic decision-making, that is, the number of participants is increasing, and the United States is also in such a state.
