On April 19, 2024, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng visited Harvard University and had a fireside chat with Founding Dean of Harvard Kennedy School Prof. Graham Allison.

Ambassador Xie said that the historic summit between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden in San Francisco last November has not only injected stability into the bilateral relationship, but also formed a future-oriented “San Francisco vision”. Since the meeting, the two sides have maintained interactions at various levels, and conducted dialogue and cooperation in areas including foreign policy, economy and trade, law enforcement, agriculture, and mil-to-mil relations. 

For instance, the fentanyl issue in the United States was not caused by China. Having suffered bitterly from the scourge of drugs in the first half of the 19th century, China feels for the American people. In 2019, at the request of the U.S. side, China became the first country to schedule fentanyl-related substances as a class, covering more categories than those scheduled by the UN Conventions. To implement the two Presidents’ important consensus at the San Francisco summit, China issued a circular on the day after the meeting, warning against the sales of chemical precursors that could be used to make illicit drugs. The China-U.S. working group on counternarcotics cooperation has also been officially launched. All these fully demonstrated China’s sincerity for cooperation.

Ambassador Xie emphasized that dialogue and cooperation should be reciprocal and based on mutual respect, and one cannot focus solely on their own interests in the process. Otherwise, how could cooperation continue? It is hoped that the U.S. side will also take earnest actions to implement the two Presidents’ important consensus on issues of concern to the Chinese side. 

For instance, the two Presidents agreed that the two sides should hold consultations on national security boundaries. The two sides did start such consultations, but little progress has been made over the past six months. Although the U.S. side agreed on holding such consultations in principle, it is reluctant to go into detailed discussions. And when pressed, it would just claim “national security is not negotiable". This is not a responsible attitude.

From traditional fields such as economy, trade and agriculture, to new areas such as climate change and artificial intelligence, China and the United States have extensive common interests and room for mutually beneficial cooperation. The two sides should advance cooperation in a reciprocal spirit, and prudently manage differences, so as to turn the “San Francisco vision” into reality, and promote the sound, stable and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations.