Overemphasizing differences hurts progress of Sino-US ties: China Daily editorial

It is absolutely true that how the trade talks between China and the United States fare will have a bearing on not just both countries but also the entire world. Which is why, as Zhang Yesui, spokesman for the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress, told a news conference on Monday, the “substantive progress” the two countries have made in their trade talks has been well received all around the world.

The postponement of the tariff hike on Chinese imports US President Donald Trump announced last week sends a positive message about trade relations between the world’s two largest economies. And the news that the presidents of both countries are likely to meet in the near future to finalize a deal also sends an encouraging signal that an end to their dispute may be in sight.

It is natural and normal that both countries should have differences since they have different histories, different social systems, different cultures and are in different development stages.

Yet collaboration between the two countries over the past several decades has already proved that their differences need not stand in the way of cooperation.

There have been ups and downs in bilateral relations over the past several decades as a result of how US politicians look at China and at the way they believe the relationship should be handled. It seems that an increasing number of them now believe that China should be considered a strategic threat to the United States.

That may be the reality. But another reality is that the more publicity the US media has given to presenting China as a threat to the US in certain areas and more US politicians are talking about such a threat, the more it fosters an anti-China political atmosphere in Washington.

Such a political atmosphere may then grow to eclipse the substance of bilateral relations — their economic complementarity and their mutual responsibility to address not just their problems but also the common problems the entire world faces.

Fortunately, negotiators from both sides have conducted the talks with a down-to-earth attitude without getting too obsessed with their differences and thus have been able to make substantive progress.

Cooperation benefits both, confrontation hurts not just both, but also the entire world. This, among other things, is an inherent part of the broad picture of Sino-US relations.

Given the impact both economies have on the world economy and their bilateral relations on the world political situation, it is imperative the politicians of both countries adopt a global perspective when making policies concerning bilateral ties.

Keeping the bigger picture in mind and adopting a global perspective will enable them to put aside their differences for their own good and the good of the world.