Only mutual trust, mutual benefit lead to win-win results

By Zhong Sheng

Recently, some US politicians have acted irresponsibly and unjustly when dealing with international cooperation, especially major country relations. They constantly released signals of confrontation, with a wishful thinking that Uncle Sam might steal a win from the zero-sum game.

Chief economics commentator Martin Wolf of Financial Times has well described the arbitrary acts of the US, saying that liberal commerce is increasingly seen by the country as “trading with the enemy”.

Major countries shoulder special responsibilities as the relations between major countries have a profound impact on global peace and development stability.

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Donald Trump a few days earlier during which he said that as the world’s two biggest economies, China and the United States should jointly play a leading role in pushing for positive outcomes at the G20 Osaka summit, so as to inject confidence and vitality into the global market.

Xi’s remarks have indicted the global significance of jointly advancing China-US relations based on coordination, cooperation and stability.

It is noteworthy that this conversation has revitalized the confidence of global market, which revealed the common aspiration for cooperation between major countries of the international society.

Henry Kissinger wrote in his book On China that “What a culmination if, forty years later, the United States and China could merge their efforts not to shake the world, but to build it.” What he said reflected the common expectation of the people from both China and the US, and even beyond.

However, it’s unfortunate that some people in the US don’t want to “merge their efforts” or cherish the results of bilateral cooperation achieved during the past 40 years since the two countries established diplomatic ties.

They raised additional tariffs or threatened to do so, expanding their provocation against China to multiple fields. Major country relations play a vital role in the international system, and the world is showing growing concerns over the confrontation between China and the US.

US magazine The Atlantic warned that if Washington insists on confronting China, European countries won’t agree with such stance, which will inevitably lead to more problems for US-European relations.

Not long ago, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan reiterated on many occasions that it will not work for Washington to see China as an opponent that it must contain.

They called for constructive competition among major countries, and urged the US to allow more voices from China in making international rules, so as to avoid a prolonged conflict and a situation where small countries have to choose side between the largest two economies.

Some US politicians just have a heart for disrupting and damaging the rules of international cooperation, and it seems that they don’t care about losing their international credibility or destroying the bedrock for trust and cooperation of the international society.

They worship the power to exert extreme pressure, and are even longing for profits from the constantly escalated conflict.

At present, the world is undergoing profound development of multi-polarization and economic globalization. With closer interdependence and interrelation among global countries, peace, development, cooperation and win-win results are the trend of time and true aspiration of the people.

Against such background, the shortsighted actions of Washington will neither be supported nor succeed.

“Every great achievement was a vision before it became a reality.” That is the conclusion reached by an American strategist when summarizing the development course of China-US relations. It remains to be seen whether this conclusion will awake those who scream to “make America great again” while waving the big stick of tariffs.

China always thinks far when dealing with diplomatic relations. Independence, mutual understanding, strategic vision and win-win cooperation are what major countries need to follow and also a prerequisite to build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.

China has always promoted open and inclusive cooperation for win-win outcomes, rejected self-centered, short-sighted and closed-door policies, upheld WTO rules and supported the multilateral trading system so as to build an open world economy.

Beijing hopes that the US can meet China halfway, manage differences and expand cooperation, in order to offer more certainties and predictability for the world.

It is common knowledge that China will always stay true to the original aspiration of cooperation and safeguard the bottom line of justice no matter how the international landscape changes.

Cooperation represents the trend of time. China and the US should cooperate with each other, make joint efforts to solve global issues and improve global governance when facing the four major challenges of deficits in trust, peace, development and governance.

During the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina held last year, Xi pointed out that mutual trust among major countries is the most valuable asset of the G20, and that we should preserve and increase the value of mutual trust.

Xi’s profound remarks are of vital significance in guiding people’s thinking on the current international affairs. The mutual trust between major countries calls for cultivation and maintenance. Mutual trust leads to mutual benefit, and mutual benefit leads to win-win results.

The G20 Osaka summit is scheduled to be kicked off soon, and people are expecting that major countries can play an active and constructive role in promoting international relations. It’s hoped that the summit will achieve practical results in economy and trade to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, and inject impetus to global economic growth.