PRESIDENT HU Jintao’s state visit to the United States last week was a fruitful trip, one that opened the door to a new chapter of co-operation between the world’s two largest economies, China’s foreign minister said yesterday.
During Mr Hu’s four-day visit, the two sides “harvested rich fruit from their extensive co-operation, retained effective communication and co-ordination on major regional and global issues, brought tangible benefits to the two peoples, and made great contributions to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region and beyond,” Yang Jiechi said in a statement carried by the Xinhua news agency.
While low on concrete deals, the visit was significant in terms of the world’s changing geopolitical landscape. After years of talking about when would China “arrive”, when would it earn its place at the top table of global powers, the summit between Mr Hu and US president Barack Obama showed that Washington had finally agreed to accept Beijing as a major player on the world stage.
The meeting has been characterised in China as very much a meeting of equals. Moreover, Chinese people believe that reflects the country’s growing significance as an economic power which has withstood the ravages of the global slowdown better than any other major economy, but also as an important political and diplomatic player in the region.
It also highlighted how much the US needs China to help stave off the potentially disastrous impact of a fresh economic downturn. Mr Hu’s visit also included a mission to Chicago and he had a high profile in the US.
Mr Yang said the relationship between Washington and Beijing would inevitably encounter differences and disputes as the world witnessed “deep and complicated changes”.
The two countries needed to boost trust and communicate better, he said.
During the visit Mr Hu and Mr Obama discussed a wide range of issues from global trade to human rights to climate change, all of which have been thorny issues in recent months.
They also spoke about North Korea, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the situation in Sudan. All three are international pariahs, with China their only major ally.
On subjects such as Tibet and Taiwan there was little of substance, although Mr Hu did make an astonishingly frank remark saying China recognised and respected the universality of human rights, a comment not picked up in Chinese media.
The visit marks a major improvement in relations between the two superpowers. China signed up to buy €33 billion worth of US goods, but there has been little significant change in issues that divide the two countries.
Washington is angry over the trade imbalance between the two nations and accuses Beijing of keeping its currency artificially low in order to boost exports.
North Korea’s central news agency indicated that Mr Hu had gone to Washington, but didn’t mention discussion of Pyongyang’s nuclear activities.