Zero-sum game to talk of China, US 'decoupling'
China stated yesterday that advocating the “decoupling” of it and the United States, which has been played up by a handful of people in the US, is extremely dangerous and irresponsible.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a press conference in response to a question regarding China-US economic and trade relations.
The decoupling of China and the US was advocated by a handful of people in the US sticking to a Cold War mentality and zero-sum game philosophy, Geng said.
Such a view is against the essence of China-US relations featuring cooperation and win-win results, ignores public opinion on friendly and close exchanges between the two countries, and goes against the trend of the times and is bound to fail, Geng said.
He said since the establishment of diplomatic relations 40 years ago, China and the United States have developed highly complementary and deeply integrated interest structures and mutually beneficial relations.
“Both countries have become each other’s largest trading partner and important investment destinations,” said Geng.
He added that almost all major US companies have businesses in China, and all states of the US engage in cooperation with China.
The two countries have established 50 sister-province/state relations and 227 sister-city relations, said Geng.
“The US has gained huge interests from China-US economic and trade cooperation,” said Geng, adding that in the year 2017, the sales revenue and profits of US-funded firms in China exceeded US$700 billion and US$50 billion.
Geng said that speaking of decoupling, one should first ask the opinion of enterprises, and ordinary people from the two countries.
Geng said a forced decoupling of China and the United States would inevitably disrupt the world economy and harm everyone.
“We urge some Americans to reflect on their actions, abandon ideological stereotypes, and stop spreading prejudiced and old remarks,” he said.