2018年CRI Ambassador stresses fair competition in China-US trade

Addressing tough issues in current China-US relations, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai says that, while engagement continues to be the answer on how to handle bilateral 1 relations, fair competition means the two should push for their own development domestically, instead of trying to impede 2 the progress of the other.

At an event marking 40 years of China-US relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Ambassador Cui Tiankai has talked extensively on pressing issues in current US-China relations, such as trade, intellectual property rights protection and cross Straits relations.

Responding to concerns in the US on China's rise and the issue of fair competition between the two, Cui Tiankai is illustrating 3 his views using the example of sportsmanship.

"I think maybe we can look at the example of sports. If you want to run faster, you don't look over your shoulder to see if somebody is catching 4 up. You could feel somebody is catching up; this will force you to run even faster. I think this is what real and fair competition is all about. We should all try to run faster ourselves, not always looking back to see if somebody is coming and try to raise some barriers to stop him."

Reflecting on the trajectory 5 of 40 years of bilateral ties, the Ambassador says engagement is still the answer as to how to handle this relationship between the world's two biggest economies.

He says in the past 40 years, issues such as the North Korea nuclear issue and the Paris climate deal are successful examples where the two have effectively built mutual 6 understanding and trust.

Ambassador Cui also is also commenting on thorny 7 issues in current bilateral ties, such as intellectual property rights and technology transfer.

"This has been a learning process for us. When we first started, we had very little knowledge of how international and global economy will function and how to do business globally. And I think 40 years ago, very few people knew the concept of intellectual property rights. But over the past 4 decades, we have learned a great deal. And today protection of intellectual property rights is China's own need. We are doing this not just to take care of the concerns of US companies, because we need it ourselves. That's why President Xi in his speech at the Bo'ao forum 8 last month listed this as one of the four priority areas for China's next step of opening up: better protection intellectual property rights."

Speaking on the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up policy, Ambassador Cui has dismissed worries in the US that China is slowing down on further opening to the outside world and reassured 9 Washington that China is still pushing in that direction.

"So if you have a successful policy, there's no reason why you should change it. But of course the way you implement 10 it, the way you push it forward could be different because you are dealing 11 with different issues."

The longest serving Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai says what he considers the most important issue between the two countries is how to enhance mutual trust.