‘If we fight, we both lose’: Chinese ambassador to the US says ‘smoother’ road ahead is a priority

Name: China’s US envoy Qin Gang strikes conciliatory note on arrival in Washington
Uploaded: 2021-10-02T09:00:26.000Z
Duration: 2 min 20 s
Description: China’s US envoy Qin Gang strikes conciliatory note on arrival in Washington

Conciliatory comments from Qin Gang in a CGTN interview come amid a palpable easing of tensions following the release of Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou

Hopes for further pragmatic cooperation are, however, tempered by the Biden administration’s demonstrated aim to contain China through regional alliances

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Qin Gang says more efforts need to be made to help China and the US better understand each other in what is still a “very difficult period” between the two powers. Photo: CCTV

Laura Zhou

Published: 5:00pm, 2 Oct 2021Updated: 9:01pm, 2 Oct 2021

China’s new ambassador to the United States has called for further communication and dialogue to shorten what he called the “breaking-in period” between the two powers amid the sustained acrimony of the past few years.

More efforts needed to be made to help the two powers better understand each other, Qin Gang, who arrived in Washington two months ago, told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN.

“The current Sino-US relationship is still in a very difficult period and requires a lot of effort and work,” Qin said, according to a readout by the Chinese embassy on Saturday.

As the two countries are “looking for new ways to get along”, the top priority of his job was to make the process “less violent and unexpected but smoother and predictable”, he added.

The conciliatory comments from Qin come amid signs of easing tensions in the past week, after the US dropped its extradition request for Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei Technologies Co., removing one of the biggest thorns in the relationship and raising hopes of further cooperation despite strained bilateral ties.

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China’s US envoy Qin Gang strikes conciliatory note on arrival in Washington

Since then, in moves widely seen as indications of goodwill, the US and Chinese militaries on Thursday concluded two days of talks, the second round of high-level bilateral defence exchanges under the Biden administration; and on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent a congratulatory message to mark China’s National Day, saying the US was keen to work “cooperatively to solve the challenges” in bilateral ties.