By Chen Caixia
(ECNS) -- David Blair, vice president and senior economist at the Center for China and Globalization, emphasized the importance of confidence-building measures for regional peace and global development between China and the U.S. after Chinese President Xi Jinping met face to face withU.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco on Nov. 15.
“Anytime is a good time to meet,” said Blair in an exclusive interview with China News Network. “China and the U.S. are the two largest economies in the world and they continue to be the two largest economies of the world. Working together is a whole lot better than having constant conflicts with each other.”
The outcomes of the China-U.S. summit are multifaceted. The two sides discussed cooperation in various fields, reaching consensus in over 20 areas such as politics, diplomacy, people-to-people exchanges, global governance and military security, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Among those outcomes, Blair said it’s extremely important that the U.S. and China developed a series of confidence-building measures between the militaries of the two sides.“Theyattempt to have open communications between the two militaries to give warning and to have procedures to prevent accidents.”
Blair further noted that these sorts of arms control measures are a broader application of confidence building measures on the sea.
“It's very important that they have communication,and that if something is happening, they're able to call somebody and say what's going on. We don't want to make any mistakes here,” he said.
The meeting of two heads of state also highlights trade ties between China and the U.S.
In spite of tensions leading to trade restrictions and counter-measures, the two nations' trade was still worth over $750 billion in 2022.
Blair went to 2023 China International Import Expo (CIIE) in October in Shanghai and saw quite a few American companies there.
He believes having trade relations helps promote peace between countries. “It can help promote people-to-people relations when you have a lot of people who work in the other country,” he suggested.
Blair also thinks it's dangerous and ridiculous to have one company in the Netherlands that produces the leading lithography equipment for making chips. “I think it would be a good thing to have multiple and different chip-making supply chains. I'd like to see multiple sources around the world, because it adds to the competition,” said Blair.
He hopes there would be more people-to-people relationships between the two countries. He said, “U.S. people need to understand how people live in China. It’s not that different and the people are not that different. AndU.S.people should understand that and maybe that will help.”
Currently, Blair lives in a small city in Southwest China’s Yunnan province. He said he is impressed by how good the lives of average people in China are. He has witnessed that even small cities in southwest China attach importance to infrastructure construction and improving people’s well-being.
京公网安备 11010202009201号