BEIJING, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Observers worldwide have said that a stable China-U.S. relationship serves not only the interests of the two countries but also those of the world, providing greater predictability for global trade.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's just-concluded U.S. state visit has led to new progress toward building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability based on respect, fairness and reciprocity.
In his talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, Xi also called for translating the new vision of building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability into action and finding the right way for the two major countries to get along with each other.
"It aligns with the common aspirations of the international community yearning for stability, as stable Sino-U.S. relations will help anchor global peace and stability. It stands to disprove the inevitability of the Thucydides Trap myth in managing Sino-U.S. relations," said Ong Tee Keat, president of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific.
As reality has time and again dawned upon the two major countries of the world that they have to accommodate each other in the current dynamics, peaceful co-existence is therefore the common denominator they need to cherish, said the Malaysian scholar.
Azmi Hassan, a senior fellow at Malaysian think-tank Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, concurred, saying a good relationship between China and the United States will not only benefit these two major countries but the world.
"This is not only within trade but also in geopolitical terms, where both sides, and the whole world, can take advantage," he added.
"I believe it is critically important that the U.S. and China be on a trajectory in a positive direction as partners, and not on a trajectory of the adversaries," said Kenneth Quinn, president emeritus of the World Food Prize Foundation and a former U.S. ambassador to Cambodia.
Quinn, 84, who has led exchanges between the U.S. state of Iowa and China for decades, said his "number one goal" is that the China-U.S. relationship would continue its "constructive strategic stability" and "won't have that volatility, that up and down and huge increases in tariffs and planned tariffs."
"President Xi is absolutely right that stabilizing the China-U.S. relationship is critical. Creating a constructive relationship would be even better," said Bruce McLaughlin, CEO of Sinogie Consulting Group in Australia.
"Both sides benefit from a constructive, stable, well-regulated relationship that nurtures further trade and investment," McLaughlin said.
"What is vital here is that the U.S. administration stops seeing trade as a zero-sum game, and instead recognizes that it is possible to work toward mutual benefit," he added.
The leaders of the world's two largest economies meeting and talking directly is welcome news for business everywhere, said Rhys Roberts, national president of the Australia China Business Council. "What business values most is predictability."
"Commitments made at leaders' level matter most when they flow through into consistent, practical arrangements that companies can plan around. That is where business will be watching," he added. ■
