Arriving in Beijing yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off his three-day state visit to China. In view of its impact on either bilateral relations or the world, Trump's current visit could be called "an important visit in a particular period of time". The "particularity" lies in that this is the first foreign head of state received by the Chinese side for a state visit after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The "importance" lies in that Xi Jinping and Trump will make top-level design for the future development of the two countries' relations, signaling to the world about the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. relations.
Both the Chinese and American sides have devoted all efforts to this visit. The Chinese side has made an exception to receive Trump with an exceedingly high protocol of "State Visit plus". In addition to the full set of state-visit activities following the highest diplomatic protocol, some small-scale meetings and informal exchanges are also arranged, so that the two heads of state will have sufficient time to engage in profound strategic communication on major international issues of common concern. Likewise, on the U.S. side, Trump himself has repeatedly expressed his expectation on promoting "U.S.-China cooperation" with this visit, anticipating to build a "strong relationship" with President Xi Jinping.
By counting, this is the third formal meeting of these two heads of state of China and the United States. During the Mar-a-Lago summit, the first time the two heads of state met, Xi and Trump exchanged their views on the thorny bilateral relations and urgent international hot issues to timely set the "stop-loss point" for a possible deterioration of bilateral relations, enabling a smooth transition for China-U.S. relations. The four high-level dialogue mechanisms set up after the Mar-a-Lago summit have all successfully started operation and completed the first round of dialogues. The 100-day action plan was so fruitful at an early stage that the two countries are already starting to work out a one-year plan. The two sides have also orderly pushed forward cooperation in domains such as North Korea's nuclear programme and anti-terrorism. In the past year, China and the United States have not only avoided heading to confrontation and conflict but also found new meeting point of interests on the basis of expanding cooperation. Relations between the two countries are moving onto the healthy track. The two peoples especially the American people have also gained practical benefits from this.
If the Mar-a-Lago summit provided the first occasion for them to get acquainted with each other and the Hamburg meeting for them to "deepen understanding", then this current "Xi-Trump Meeting" in Beijing faces the major issue of "setting the direction". To borrow U.S. Secretary of State Rex Wayne Tillerson's words, it is in a bid to chart the course for the development of US-China relations in the next 50 years. There is no need to dodge it - and it cannot be dodged anyway - that although China-U.S. relations have a good start there are undercurrents below. Trump's "America First" principle is not totally in step with China's "diplomacy for a new era" and sometimes is even in sharp contrast. There exist obvious differences between the two sides on how to handle the deficits in bilateral trade, how to deal with regional hot spots, such as North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programmes, and global issues such as climate change and cooperation in fighting terrorism. The United States remains suspicious and resentful of China's fast development and its Belt and Road initiative. If such differences cannot be effectively managed and controlled, Sino-U.S relations may suffer setbacks or even retrogressions.
The 19th CPC National Congress has endorsed the idea of "diplomacy for a new era" to uphold peaceful development and promote the building of a community of common destiny for all mankind. Stable China-U.S. relations no doubt are the priority of priorities in China's "diplomacy for a new era". The 19th CPC National Congress has not only drawn a magnificent blueprint for China's future development but also injected new dynamic into the two countries' cooperation and provided new opportunities. The prospects of China-U.S. relations are brighter and broader than ever before.
With China already walking towards the centre of the world arena, China-U.S. relations should also move into "a new era". It is expected that the Xi-Trump summit could make strategic planning for the future of China-U.S. relations and point out the direction of development. This is not only in keeping with the interests of the two countries and the two peoples but also the due commitment to the world by these two big powers of China and the United States.
09 November 2017
