Nicholas Burns, US ambassador to China, stresses need to find common ground amid tense relations
- Burns also counters the claim that US policy is designed to keep China down and prevent it from developing. ‘The evidence doesn’t bear that out,’ he says
- He cites his frustration at not being able to meet ordinary Chinese because of strict Covid-19 lockdowns and censorship of some of his social media posts
US-China relations are at their lowest point in 50 years, marked by intense competition, growing tension over Taiwan, and Beijing’s aggression in the Asia-Pacific region, but Washington is committed to finding common ground despite the difficulties, its ambassador to China said on Thursday.
Nicholas Burns, the ambassador to Beijing since March, said it was important that the two economic and military giants build in guardrails
“It doesn’t mean the bottom is falling out of the relationship,” Burns said, speaking by video from the US Embassy. “We are in a largely competitive mode here, and we’ve made no secret of that in our government. But there are areas where we ought to be engaged with each other and that’s one of my jobs, along with a lot of my colleagues in Washington, is to find those areas and try to push them forward.”
Burns also countered a common narrative repeated by Chinese officials and others on social media, namely that US policy is designed to keep China down and prevent it from developing.
“The evidence doesn’t bear that out,” he said, citing shared efforts by former president Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping to address climate change; their common efforts to craft an Iran nuclear deal before former president Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact; and the hundreds of US companies that have invested in China over decades of economic engagement.