China-US relations: state media commentaries back President Xi Jinping’s call to develop ties for a ‘brighter future’
- Xinhua’s conciliatory editorial line is in sharp contrast to its accusation weeks earlier that the US had a ‘friend or foe’ mindset that would lead nowhere
- Party mouthpiece People’s Daily also calls for improved ties, but blasts ‘decoupling’ moves and warns against US barriers to technology
The rhythm of cooperation between Beijing and Washington is getting “stronger and stronger” – both at the government-to-government level and in the society of both countries – while their shared stake in the relationship is a “new normal”, according to a commentary published by the official Xinhua news agency on Sunday.
It was the fourth and latest in a series that started on Thursday about the “sustained, steady and sound” development of the bilateral relationship.
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The language used in the series was in sharp contrast to that in a Xinhua article nearly two weeks earlier when it accused the United States of having a “friend or foe” mindset that would “lead nowhere”, and argued that the decline of American hegemony had become a “visible reality”.
“If we always maintain a ‘bright heart’ that seeks win-win for both nations and the world, China and the US will surely illuminate the path ahead and march towards a ‘brighter future’,” Xinhua said in the most recent commentary on Sunday.
The Chinese leader told them “China-US relations cannot go back to the old days, but they can embrace a brighter future”, while offering assurances Beijing would roll out more reform measures to improve the business climate in his country.
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In a commentary published on Saturday, Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily also got on board to call for better China-US ties, framing win-win cooperation as the “underlying tone” of the relationship.
“Facing new developments and changes in China-US economic and trade relations in recent years, both sides must adhere to mutual respect, reciprocity and equal negotiation,” read the piece bylined Zhong Sheng – a homonym in Chinese for “the voice of China”.
“[China] is ready to work with the US together to promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations.”
However, the article also blasted “decoupling” moves and warned of “confrontation and division” resulting from man-made barriers to technologies.
Beijing and Washington remain locked in a wide range of contests, from the Taiwan Strait and territorial flare-ups in the South China Sea to tit-for-tat trade restrictions amid a fierce tech war.
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The White House last week revised rules on semiconductor exports to make it harder for China to access US artificial intelligence chips and chipmaking tools. The Chinese commerce ministry pushed back at the weekend, characterising the action as “arbitrary”, a reaction that came days after Beijing filed a complaint against US electric vehicle subsidies at the World Trade Organization.
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In the state media series, Xinhua used its previous three commentaries on improving China-US relations to call on Washington to adopt a “correct strategic perception” of Beijing.
In the first piece on Thursday it said: “China never bets on the US losing, does not interfere in US domestic affairs, and has no intention of challenging or replacing the US. It welcomes a confident, open, and thriving US”.
In the following two articles, the agency called on the US and China to broaden and deepen their economic ties and urged them to have more people-to-people exchanges.
