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

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

US-China relations

Laura Zhou

Published: 5:00pm, 2 Oct 2021

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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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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.

On Monday, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai is expected to speak at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Her speech would be the most detailed assessment of the Biden administration’s approach to trade with China as the world’s two largest economies move to address unresolved issues.

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In his interview with CGTN, which was conducted on Thursday but aired on Saturday, Qin reiterated the call for the two sides to accelerate efforts to put relations back on track as soon as possible.

He admitted that there has been “widespread misunderstanding” over China, but pledged to continue to get in touch with people from different sectors in the US. “The message is clear that if we cooperate, we both benefit, if we fight, we both lose.”

During their phone conversation last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Joe Biden that getting bilateral ties right was not optional but something “we must do and must do well”.

The White House said at the time that the two leaders also “discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition [did] not veer into conflict”.

Australia getting nuclear subs via Aukus ‘ups risk of conflict near China’

While hopes for further pragmatic cooperation are rising, tensions remain. China has ramped up criticism of Aukus, the new military alliance between the US, Britain and Australia, which Beijing sees as part of Washington’s strategy to contain China’s rise though its network of allies.

01:19

After Quad summit discusses China threat, Beijing says ‘cliques’ drive wedge between countries

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has accused the grouping of “provoking rivalry in the region and engaging in a geopolitical zero-sum game”.

On Saturday, Ely Ratner, the US assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs, spoke to Japan’s director general for defence policy Kazuo Masuda and South Korea’s deputy minister for national defence policy Kim Man-gi in a trilateral call among the allies. Their discussions included North Korea’s “nuclear and missile threat, regional security, and substantive ways to strengthen trilateral security cooperation”, according to the Pentagon.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: ‘Smoother’ road ahead priority for Sino-US ties