Forum highlights major-country ties

China and the United States should enhance communication and engagement through "a new pattern or mechanism" to foster mutual understanding and prevent crises, Chinese and US experts said in Beijing on Wednesday.

They made the remarks during a panel session of the 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which started on Wednesday and runs through Friday. The topic of the discussion was "The Right Way for Major Countries to Get Along".

Wu Xinbo, dean of Fudan University's Institute of International Studies, said that China-US relations are entering a new stage, which he described as "talks and understanding", after multiple rounds of US-imposed tariff measures and China's various countermeasures, as well as trade negotiations between the two countries held in Europe.

"So far this relationship has been driven by trade and economic issues," Wu said.

"Hopefully, we can achieve some progress first in trade and economic relations, and then expand this to diplomatic and even security relations, so that we can have a broader understanding about where this relationship is going and what progress we can make in each area," he said.

Chad Sbragia, a research fellow at the US-based Institute for Defense Analyses, said that both China and the US are reaching a point where they have inevitable conflicts of interest, but also a mutual interest in averting crisis or conflict. He noted that this means both sides have to figure out this relationship in a "new way", which requires "new mechanisms".

Sbragia, who is also a former US deputy assistant secretary of defense, warned that if a crisis or conflict were to occur between the two major powers, it would be catastrophic.

"It's not good for either side, or catastrophic for both sides, in fact, catastrophic for the world," he said, adding that the fundamental aspect of "coexistence" between China and the US is the recognition that the stability of the relationship should be given priority as a strategic political goal between the two sides.

During the panel session, Wu from Fudan University highlighted the Global Governance Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping on Sept 1 at the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus" Meeting in Tianjin, which emphasizes sovereign equality.

Wu noted that while sovereign equality is also stressed in the United Nations Charter, the US, as the leading country in the world for many years, has never treated other countries, including China, equally.

He said that he believed that after China imposed several countermeasures against US tariffs in the first half of this year, the US realized that China is not an opponent that would yield.

"Maybe this year, for the first time, the US realized China is at a somewhat equal position at the negotiating table," he said.

"Instead of coercion, trade-off, compromise and understanding are necessary," he said, expressing the hope that the US would take sovereignty and equality more seriously.

"China has to show the US that if you challenge my core interests, I will retaliate. If you want to restrain China's advancements in technology, I will work hard to keep making progress and breakthroughs in those areas," Wu added.

If the US is going to contain China, China will make all the efforts to make sure the containment will fail, he said.

Robert S. Ross, an associate at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and a delegate to the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, told China Daily that China, the US and some other countries should seek common values and areas of interest.

"It's in the common interest of all countries to promote international development and international order," he said. "There is no conflict of interest between the US, China and Europe in promoting the developing world and their development, their health, their economies."

So they should all make greater contributions to a global order that promotes greater equality among all countries, Ross said.