Sino-US ties have global ramifications, expert says

China and the United States need to realize that their bilateral relations can affect countries around the world, experts said while calling for more efforts to understand the peaceful rise of China.

Kishore Mahbubani, distinguished fellow of Asia Research Institute at National University of Singapore, said in a program shown by Chinese media Caixin on Tuesday that Washington, for the first time, is beginning to realize that they need to re-consider whether its "all-out assault on China" works out, as China is making very strong efforts to partner with countries around the world.

According to him, China's investments in Africa have made a huge difference, which are, in fact, helping Europe, because they're creating local jobs that can stop more African refugees from flooding to Europe.

Meanwhile, China's Belt and Road Initiative is bringing concrete benefits to the world. For instance, in Uzbekistan, it used to take several days to climb the mountains, to go across one side of the country to the other side. In 900 days, the Chinese built a train and now, it takes only 900 seconds to go across the country. That explained why more than 160 countries and regions have signed deals with China to join the Belt and Road Initiative.

Mahbubani made the comments while answering questions from John Thornton, co-chair of the Board of Trustees of the Asia Society in the United States, in the video program themed "The Asian Century: Reshaping Global Value Chains".

Thornton said in a speech at the Asia New Vision Forum held by Caixin in June in Singapore that in the past two years, the relationship between China and the US had not been very well.

Relying on his 20–year experience of working in Asia, Thornton said the rise of China is a very stable process, but it is still difficult for other countries to understand that.

He called for more efforts for China and the United States to realize that their bilateral relations can affect countries around the world.