Xi's visit boosts strategic stability in China-US ties, says FM

Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States has led to new progress in a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after Xi wrapped up his US visit on Friday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while briefing reporters on Xi's state visit to the US from Sept. 23 to 25.

President Xi and President Donald Trump had a candid and in-depth exchange of views in a friendly atmosphere of mutual respect on strategic and overarching issues concerning China-US relations and the broader global landscape, Wang said.

Since President Trump began his second term, the two heads of state have maintained close exchanges, including three in-person meetings and five phone talks, and fostered a pattern of interaction marked by mutual respect and sincerity, said Wang, noting this has become the most valuable strategic asset in China-US relations.

An important political outcome of the visit is that President Xi and President Trump further enriched the substance of the new positioning of relations and have agreed to build a constructive China-US ties of strategic stability based on respect, fairness and reciprocity, Wang said.

Respect means respecting each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, respecting each country's choice of social system and development path, and respecting the other side's core interests and major concerns, Wang said.

Fairness, Wang continued, means pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation and handling differences through consultation, rejecting a zero-sum game in which one side's gain comes at the expense of the other's, and not seeking unilateral absolute advantage.

Reciprocity means that the two countries are equal in sovereignty, that neither side stands above the other, that neither engages in hegemonic nor bullying behaviour, that each side's concerns are addressed on an equal basis, and that cooperation across various fields develops in a balanced manner, Wang said.

Noting that President Xi has pointed out that a stable China-US economic and trade relationship requires both expanding the list of cooperation and shortening the list of problems, Wang said that the US side should treat Chinese companies fairly, resolve problems through dialogue and negotiations, and promote the sustained, stable and positive development of economic and trade relations.

The fentanyl abuse problem in the United States is not caused by China, but China has always acted with the utmost goodwill and made every effort to assist the US side in addressing the fentanyl crisis, Wang noted, adding that the two heads of state tasked the law enforcement agencies of the two countries with continuing to strengthen cooperation and jointly combat transnational crime. Xinhua