Governor Ricketts,

Secretary Albright,

Senior Vice President Abboud,

Chairman Lau-Kee,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honor to be invited to the opening ceremony of US-China Policy Series as the representative of Ambassador Cui Tiankai.

Over two years ago, I led a working group of the Chinese Embassy in the United States to visit Nebraska. During our visit, we took a tour of Mead Cattle company. Our gracious host told us that China was importing large amounts of beef from Australia, and they hoped that their beef, which is corn-fed and better than Australia’s grass-fed beef, could soon be sold to China. I replied that China had a population of 1.4 billion, a big market for both corn-fed and grass-fed beef.

More than two years have passed. China-US relations have remained tense. Some American politicians described the Communist Party of China as an evil, and China as an alien that steals intellectual property rights, abuses human rights and violates rules and order. The US government identified China as a "major strategic competitor" and then "the most serious competitor". It takes out-competing China as a driving force for bipartisan unity, uses "democracy vs autocracy" as an eye-catcher to promote domestic agenda, and chooses a China policy that may lead to conflict and confrontation in China-US relations. In response, the Chinese government has to act resolutely to defend our national interests and safeguard the hard-won achievements in China-US relations.

In the meantime, the giant ship of China-US relations is still breaking waves and forging ahead. The cornerstones that have buttressed our relations over the past four decades, i.e. economic and trade cooperation, subnational exchanges and people-to-people friendship, remain unshaken. The two peoples still have high hopes for benefitting from the development of China-US relations as they did before.

Take economic and trade relations as an example. In 2020, despite the impact of COVID-19 and the unhelpful political environment, China-US trade in goods still increased by 8.8%, and China's import from the United States grew by 10.1%. For agriculture, the two-way trade in agricultural products reached $30.17 billion, including $23.72 billion of China’s imports from America, up by 67.5% year on year. It is estimated that such trade added 177,900 jobs for the United States.

Some people say that this is due to the implementation of Phase I trade deal. No doubt, China's implementation of the agreement has been serious and fruitful. However, if there had been no trade war, no forced increase in tariffs, and no artificially damaged atmosphere in China-US relations, wouldn’t the situation have been even better?

Ladies and gentlemen,

The China-US relationship is at a crossroads. The US policy toward China is undergoing changes of overarching importance. Whether there will be more challenges or more opportunities in 2021 and beyond depends on the choice of the US side and on how the US views China, a country led by the Communist Party of China.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. We will look back at the CPC’s glorious course of growing from a small party with only a few dozen members to the world's largest party with more than 90 million members. We will review the CPC’s great achievements in leading the Chinese people to realize the country's rise. We will also renew our commitments and get ourselves ready, with greater enthusiasm, for the cause of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

While we celebrate the centennial of the CPC, the world needs to see that China has made such achievements because the CPC is dedicated to pursing happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation; socialism with Chinese characteristics best suits China’s conditions; the CPC enjoys an approval rate of over 93% and it is the Chinese people who will have the final say on whether the CPC has done a good job. These facts should be accepted and respected by the United States. If some people do not believe that the Chinese nation, with 5,000 years of civilization, has the wisdom to choose the right system and path, that the 1.4 billion Chinese people have the right to choose their own governing party, that China has the wisdom to take care of its internal affairs, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, based on its best interest; if they want to impose their will on China and obstruct China's development through containment, they are bound to be disappointed and they are bound to fail.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Henry Kissinger's secret visit to China, who has lately expressed his deep concern for the current situation and prospects of China-US relations. He warned that the tension with China is "the biggest problem for America, the biggest problem for the world”. The purpose of China’s development is not to defeat the United States, but to revive itself, surpass itself, and meet the people’s aspiration for a better life. As major countries, neither China nor the United States can turn the other into itself. Both sides must accept that the other side will have different ideas, policies and practices on many issues. But their shared interests far outnumber their differences. They should not take their own standards as the only standard and force their own preference upon the other side. Mutual respect, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and win-win cooperation are the only feasible way for the two countries to get along.

Ladies and gentlemen,

China is now promoting a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and international and domestic circulations reinforcing each other. In the next 15 years, China's GDP will double on both aggregate and per capita terms. In 2020, China’s total GDP stood at 101 trillion yuan (16 trillion US dollars), and in 2035, it will exceed 200 trillion yuan (31 trillion US dollars). As China continues to develop, it will not change its basic state policy of reform and opening-up; instead, it will only open wider with greater momentum. China will continue to improve its business environment that is based on market principles, governed by law and up to international standards. As President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated publicly, China will open its door only wider to the world, and it welcomes all countries to share in its development opportunities. In such a context, be it "Make America Great Again" or "Build Back Better", it's advisable for the United States not to view China as an adversary or even an enemy for vicious competition, but rather to regard it as a partner for common progress and prosperity.

In China, agriculture is always deemed as the foundation of people's livelihood and development. Over the decades, the Chinese government has made tremendous efforts to modernize the agriculture sector and achieved great success, especially alleviated 770 million people from poverty. In the future, in order to achieve high-quality development of agriculture and meet the people’s growing aspiration for a better life, China will continue to prioritize agriculture in its overall development strategy and will also open its agriculture wider. The United States is the top agricultural power in the world, while China is a major developing agricultural country. The two countries have broad prospects for cooperation in agricultural trade, agricultural science and technology, agricultural ecological protection and other fields.

Ladies and gentlemen,

On the eve of the Chinese New Year, President Xi Jinping spoke with President Joe Biden on the phone, pointing the direction for the development of bilateral relations and sending a positive signal to the world. Soon afterwards, as an important step to follow through on the spirit of their call, the two sides held a high-level strategic dialogue, which was timely and beneficial and deepened mutual understanding. Recently, President Xi, at the invitation of President Biden, attended the Leaders Summit on Climate and delivered an important speech, showing China’s readiness to work with the United States to tackle global challenges. Climate envoys of the two countries have also maintained close communication. Mr. Tang Renjian, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China had a telephone conversation with Mr. Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture of the United States on March 23. The two sides had constructive discussion on how to implement the consensus of the two heads of state and take new steps to promote agricultural cooperation between the two countries.

China's policy toward the United States is consistent and clear. It is committed to achieving no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation with the United States. It is hoped that the US government will show political foresight, courage and determination, properly manage challenges, seize opportunities, and work with China to achieve healthy and stable development of China-US relations. We hope and believe that in this process, sub-national governments and various social sectors of the United States will continue to be a staunch force for the development of China-US relations!

Thank you.