On December 14, 2023, the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) held its Jubilee Gala. Ambassador Xie Feng attended the gala upon invitation, read President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter and delivered remarks. Over 500 people from the U.S. political, business and strategic communities attended the event in person or virtually, including U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, USCBC Chair Marc Casper, USCBC President Craig Allen and U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.

In his remarks, Ambassador Xie said that his first public speech after arriving in the United States was made at the welcome event hosted by USCBC. It was in early summer, but back then a deep chill loomed. Today, we are gathering here in winter, but he feels much warmer. The most heartwarming development recently is the successful summit meeting between President Xi and President Biden in San Francisco. It has added stability to China-U.S. relations at a critical moment, and injected positive energy into a turbulent and transforming world.

Ambassador Xie said that next year, we will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic ties. The China-U.S. relationship has come to a new starting point, and business cooperation is facing new opportunities. Three things, in particular, are creating a strong impetus:

First, the stabilizing of China-U.S. relations. The summit meeting in San Francisco has fostered a future-oriented San Francisco vision, and charted the course for improving and developing China-U.S. relations. Dialogue is better than confrontation, cooperation better than decoupling, and stability better than flip-flopping. This should be a consensus between the two sides and also our shared responsibility.

Second, the recovery of the Chinese economy. China’s GDP grew 5.2% year-over-year in the first three quarters, outpacing many other major economies. Such growth features higher quality and greener development. Investors from Asia, Europe and the Middle East have all ramped up investment in China. China remains one of the best investment destinations, with a most promising huge and growing market.

Third, China’s high-standard opening-up. China is opening up its doors wider and wider. We have announced the removal of all restrictive measures on foreign investment in manufacturing, and have lifted foreign ownership limits in the financial sector. We have rolled out 24 measures to optimize the environment for foreign investment and 25 measures to boost financial support for the private sector. We have also been advancing pilot comprehensive reform in Pudong New Area, and supporting Beijing in stepping up the development of an integrated national demonstration zone for opening up the services sector wider. At the annual Central Economic Work Conference, it was announced that China will expand the intermediate goods trade, service trade, digital trade and cross-border e-commerce export, and ease market access for telecommunications, medical and other service industries. Good news keeps pouring in for China-U.S. business cooperation. Investing and expanding presence in China is a common choice of the business community.