Op-ed: China follows global trend with composure

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

 

China’s white paper on facts and its stance on trade frictions with the US, released when the world was deeply concerned about Washington’s further escalation of trade frictions against China, fully demonstrated China’s image as a responsible major country.

 

The document, titled “The Facts and China’s Position on China-US Trade Friction”, is a systematic articulation of China’s policies and stance.

 

China was firmly committed to safeguarding its national dignity and core interests, the sound development of China-US economic and trade relations, and the reform and improvement of the multilateral trading system, the white paper said.

 

The country was also firmly committed to protecting property rights and intellectual property rights (IPR), protecting the lawful rights and interests of foreign businesses in China, deepening reform and widening opening-up, wrote the document, adding that China was firmly committed to mutually beneficial cooperation with other developed and developing countries and to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

 

The commitments accord with the fundamental interests of people of the two countries as well as the common expectation of the international community. They reflect China’s strong strategic confidence and willpower.

 

China is described by the international community as firm-minded, composed, confident and restrained in responding to its trade frictions with the US. It is universally believed that China handles trade frictions with the US in a constructive approach, like it always does in addressing differences and contradictions.

 

Through what it did, the country safeguards its national dignity and core interests, while taking the big picture of China-US relations and global economic development into consideration by handling the conflicts in a sincere and constructive way.

 

The Chinese government has reiterated that China does not want a trade war, but it is not afraid of one and will fight one if necessary.

 

China did not fear unilateralism and the rise of trade protectionism as its steps forward were unstoppable. The country planned and managed its own affairs well with composure and capabilities in front of mounting international uncertainties, instabilities and insecurities in the past. It was self-reliance and hard work that allowed China a wider path for development.

 

“Economic globalization is the trend of the times, and peace and development represent the shared aspiration of all peoples,” the white paper made a fundamental judgment of the trend of the world and the times.

 

It is out of this judgment that China chooses to safeguard and improve multilateral trade system, promote win-win and mutually beneficial cooperation with other developed and developing countries, and be firmly committed to building a community of a shared destiny for mankind.

 

China’s proposals and solutions made within the multilateral frameworks of the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organization (WTO), Group of 20 (G20), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), help maintain multilateralism, promote liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, and push global economy toward a more open, inclusive, reciprocal, balanced and win-win direction.

 

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and China’s efforts to boost solidarity and cooperation with countries and regions under the frameworks of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, and the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum, have demonstrated its responsibility as a major country to lead and promote international cooperation and pool the widest force for peace and development.

 

Time will prove that China has made the right choice and selected a bright path. The peace and development of the world is unstoppable.

 

(Zhong Sheng, a homonym in Chinese for “voice of China”, is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)