December 14, 2023

The Honorable Secretary Yellen,
Chair Casper,
President Allen,
Ambassador Burns,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening!

It is a great pleasure to join you at the Jubilee Gala of the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC). First, I have the honor to read the congratulatory letter from H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The congratulatory letter from President Xi reflects the importance he has attached to USCBC and his expectation for greater economic cooperation between China and the United States. It also demonstrates China’s readiness to promote the sound, stable and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations.  

My first public speech after arriving in the United States was made at the welcome event hosted by USCBC. It was in early summer, but back then a deep chill loomed. Today, we are gathering here in winter, but I feel much warmer. The most heartwarming development recently is the successful summit meeting between President Xi and President Biden in San Francisco. It has added stability to China-U.S. relations at a critical moment, and injected positive energy into a turbulent and transforming world. Next year, we will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic ties. The China-U.S. relationship has come to a new starting point, and business cooperation is facing new opportunities. Three things, in particular, are creating a strong impetus:

First, the stabilizing of China-U.S. relations. I have been meeting many friends from the business community over the past six months. Their biggest concern was tension between our two countries, and their greatest expectation was a meeting between the two Presidents. Now the summit meeting has become a reality, which has fostered a future-oriented San Francisco vision, and charted the course for improving and developing China-U.S. relations.

President Xi pointed out that for our two countries, turning our back on each other is not an option. It is unrealistic for one side to try to remodel the other. Any conflict and confrontation would have unbearable consequences for both. The success of our two countries is an opportunity for each other. President Biden also noted that our economies are mutually dependent. The United States is glad to see prosperity in China. It does not seek to contain or suppress China’s development or to decouple with China.

If we look back at the twists and turns in our relations since the start of this year, we will see that dialogue is better than confrontation, cooperation better than decoupling, and stability better than flip-flopping. This should be a consensus between the two sides and also our shared responsibility.

Second, the recovery of the Chinese economy. This year, China’s economy has rebounded after three years of Covid-19. Its GDP grew 5.2% year-over-year in the first three quarters, outpacing many other major economies. International organizations and financial institutions including IMF, OECD, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have raised China’s GDP growth forecasts for this year to 5-5.5%, casting votes of confidence in the Chinese economy.

Such growth features higher quality and greener development. China’s investment in high-tech sectors grew 11% in the first ten months, and its renewable energy installed capacity has overtaken that for coal-fired power for the first time. The economy has both appropriately expanded and effectively upgraded. 

Investors from Asia, Europe and the Middle East have all ramped up investment in China. In the first three quarters, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises grew 32.4%, and the final consumption expenditure contributed 83% of the GDP growth. China remains one of the best investment destinations, with a most promising huge and growing market.

Third, China's high-standard opening-up. China is opening up its doors wider and wider. We have announced the removal of all restrictive measures on foreign investment in manufacturing, and have lifted foreign ownership limits in the financial sector. We have rolled out 24 measures to optimize the environment for foreign investment and 25 measures to boost financial support for the private sector. We have also been advancing pilot comprehensive reform in Pudong New Area, and supporting Beijing in stepping up the development of an integrated national demonstration zone for opening up the services sector wider.

At the annual Central Economic Work Conference a few days ago, it was announced that China will expand the intermediate goods trade, service trade, digital trade and cross-border e-commerce export, and ease market access for telecommunications, medical and other service industries.

Good news keeps pouring in for China-U.S. business cooperation. Swire Coca-Cola is building a new plant in Jiangsu Province. The sixth China International Import Expo saw the largest-ever U.S. delegation in its history. American firms also accounted for one-fifth of foreign exhibitors at the first China International Supply Chain Expo last month. Investing and expanding presence in China is a common choice of the business community.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As President Xi noted in the congratulatory letter, whether China and the United States can work hand in hand to tackle the challenges together concerns the interests of our two peoples and the future of humanity. From the daily life of our peoples to the global economic outlook, China-U.S. economic cooperation is indispensable. We need to bolster the anchor of China-U.S. relations, the propeller of practical cooperation and the catalyst for people-to-people exchanges, so as to take our economic cooperation to new heights from San Francisco onward.

First, it is important to honor commitments, and implement the common understandings reached at the San Francisco summit. The spirit of honoring contracts is the very foundation of business civilization. Words should not ring hollow, and promises must be kept. Otherwise, one would bust his own credibility and undermine mutual trust.

China always keeps its word with real actions. After the summit, we have taken a series of practical measures in economy and trade, counternarcotics and people-to-people exchanges, including authorizing Mastercard NUCC to conduct bank card clearing operations in China, and approving Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. We hope the two sides will work in the same direction, both show good faith and take concrete actions, enhance communication through the restored and new mechanisms in economy, finance and other areas, remove obstacles to people-to-people exchanges in flights, visa and border entry, and earnestly deliver on each and every of our Presidents’ important common understandings.

Second, it is important to keep business cooperation from being politicized. Business is business. Some people, though, have been hyping up so-called “China threat”, advocating cutting China off from chips, slapping new sanctions, and forcing a China-invested agriculture company with over 50 years of presence in the United States to sell its farmland. All these stand in stark contrast to the statements by the U.S. side that it is ready to keep growing economic and trade relations with China and does not seek to contain or suppress China’s development, and run counter to the common understandings reached between the two Presidents.

The stabilizing momentum in China-U.S. relations should not be disrupted by domestic politics. The U.S. side used to call for letting the market decide. Why should it reverse course now? One needs to clearly define the parameters of national security, instead of putting everything in the basket of “national security”. People are baffled when things from Chinese garlic to social media are all considered as a “threat” to U.S. national security. How can that be? Seeking one’s own security based on the insecurity of others and global industrial and supply chains will not work, and should not be an option.

Third, it is important to complement each other, and expand the list of mutually beneficial cooperation. Jointly advancing mutually beneficial cooperation is one of the five pillars of the San Francisco vision. Our Presidents have agreed on conducting dialogue and cooperation in areas including economy and trade, people-to-people exchanges, education, science and technology, agriculture, law enforcement and AI. We have broad space for deepening cooperation.

For any decoupling, it is the people who will ultimately pay the cost; and in any major-country confrontation, it is the development opportunities of all countries that will be at stake. When overemphasized, competition could veer off into confrontation. We need people who talk more about cooperation, so that we can focus more on making the cake of cooperation bigger instead of vying for a larger share, and move along with the trend to open up new horizons and promote transition to digital, smart and green development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Only when the overall atmosphere of China-U.S. relations is good can business cooperation prosper; and with robust business cooperation, China-U.S. relations will do better. Confucius once said, “At 50, one knows the will of heaven.” Over the past five decades, USCBC has actively spoken out for boosting China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation, and made great efforts to advance trade and investment between our two countries. Your contribution to China-U.S. economic cooperation and the development of the overall bilateral relations is deeply appreciated.

Going forward, I count on the Council to continue encouraging member companies to uphold the rules of market economy, recognize the mutually beneficial nature of China-U.S. economic cooperation and the historical trend of peaceful coexistence between our two countries, strive to be “the first to taste the crab” with entrepreneurship and courage, and play the long game with vision and insight, so as to write a new chapter of win-win cooperation between China and the United States in the next 50 years.

I wish you all a merry and bright holiday season! Thank you very much.