Keynote Speech by Mr. Wang Xiangsui at the International Relations Sub-session of the 2020 Taihe Civilizations Forum

In May 1960, when Chairman Mao Zedong discussed the international situation with British Field Marshal Montgomery who was visiting in Shanghai, he said, “The current situation is not an outbreak of hot war, nor peaceful coexistence, but ‘cold war coexistence’.” Today’s world is in a similar situation where competition exists between major powers, with some far-right American politicians treating China as the former Soviet Union and trying to start a “Cold War”, or worse, a local “hot war”, which is a very dangerous move. Faced with these new challenges, we should learn from the “Cold War” and Chairman Mao Zedong’s wisdom in handling competition among major powers. We should co-exist in competition and promote coordinated development.

The following are some specific views on China-U.S. relations: first, the deterioration of China-U.S. relations is the result of a number of combined factors. One is geopolitical. As a continental country, China’s existence and historical traditions are different from those of the U.S., a country with a history of maritime power. China developed from an agrarian society, thus emphasizing more on its people as the foundation of the state, valuing collectivism, inhibiting the accumulation of capital, and advocating for adapting to the times and local conditions. These elements form the civilizational basis of the socialist model with Chinese characteristics and are completely different from the West, especially the U.S., with its emphasis on the individual and capital accumulation. These elements may even lead to a clash of civilizations or racial conflict. Apart from these long-term factors, China-U.S. relations also face medium-term factors such as trade imbalances, intellectual property disputes, and intergovernmental differences, as well as short-term factors including public health emergencies and politicians’ personality traits. Among all these factors, the most important one is that China’s rapid development disrupted the world’s existing power structure, impacted the existing global order, and exceeded the acceptable limits to the U.S., thus resulting in conflicts between China and the U.S. As long as China continues to develop, the U.S. will continue to use any and all avenues to reduce or even retard China’s progress. In short, the worsening China-U.S. relations result from the interaction of many factors and has a certain historical inevitability.

Second, China will resolutely defend its own right to develop. The China’s basic policy towards the U.S. should be: no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation. As State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently stated, China has no intention of challenging or replacing the U.S., or of fully confronting against the U.S. Instead, China is willing to work with the U.S. to build a bilateral relationship featuring coordination, cooperation, and stability, and to jointly explore a way for peaceful coexistence among different systems and civilizations. China’s approach to bilateral relations with the U.S. is not to be anti-U.S., anti-West, or anti-American people, but only to confront the U.S. hegemony that prevents China from developing itself. Chinese President Xi Jinping, when attending the event on September 3, 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, mentioned five “never allows”, two of which relate to China-U.S. relations. The first one is that the Chinese people will never allow any attempt by anyone or any forces to impose their views on China, change its direction of development, or obstruct the Chinese people’s efforts in building a better life for themselves. The second one is that the Chinese people will never allow any individual or any force to jeopardize their peaceful life and the right to development, obstruct their exchanges and cooperation with other countries’ people, or undermine the noble cause of peace and development for humanity. This shows that China is unwilling to confront the U.S., but will hold on to its own right to development.

Third, China and the U.S. should learn to “co-exist competitively”. The two countries ought to acknowledge that there is indeed strategic competition between them, but this competition is not a “Cold War”. If the term “Cold War” was used for strategic competition between China and the U.S., we would fall into the “word trap” set by some hawkish politicians in the U.S. These people are aiming to recall people’s memories of the “Cold War” between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, and to mobilize the Western world to build an “anti-China alliance circle”. It is an extremely dangerous ploy for a major power to pressure another major country in such a strong way. There are six measures that should be mutually agreed and adhered to so that the bilateral relations can be normalized: first, avoiding elevating the competition between countries to a clash of civilizations or ethnic confrontation; second, avoiding the threat of force in case of direct military confrontation; third, avoiding a comprehensive “decoupling” in the areas of the economy, science and technology, education, etc.; fourth, avoiding weaponizing finance and supply chains; fifth, avoiding political attacks aiming at subverting governments; and sixth, avoiding involvement in sovereignty, territorial disputes, and ethnic or racial conflicts of the other party. China and the U.S. need to avoid overturning the chessboard by establishing boundaries of behavior, in order to arrive at a state of “competitive coexistence”.

It is true that there are differences and competing interests between China and the U.S., but competition should be conducted in a rational manner. China does not seek to replace the U.S., nor should the U.S. impede China’s development. In the long run, the two countries will move towards cooperation.