Sino-US relationship entering new phase

Financial cooperation soars between economic giants, spurring global recovery

At the invitation of US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the United States this month, providing a crucial opportunity for the countries to further their relationship.

During a visit to Beijing in August, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice delivered a message of Washington's willingness to view Xi's upcoming visit as "a milestone" in bilateral ties.

The two leaders have reached consensus on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global affairs, as well as strategic mutual trust during meetings over the past years, and have injected fresh momentum into the development of a new type of relationship among major powers.

As a cornerstone and a booster of China-US ties, bilateral trade exchanges, in particular, have played and will keep playing a central role in spurring cooperation and global economic recovery.

Firstly, bilateral cooperation on trade and investment is expected to keep growing, as the countries became each other's second-largest trade partners in 2014.

The US is now the biggest export market and the fifth-biggest source of imports from China, while China is the largest source of US imports and the third-largest export market.

China-US trade in goods totaled about $555 billion last year, and its annual growth rate reached 13 percent, even between 2009 and 2014, when the world's trade exchanges plummeted in the aftermath of a global financial crisis.

US exports to China in 2014 alone generated approximately 1 million jobs, according to statistics provided by the country's Department of Commerce.

It is no exaggeration to say that the "unusual" rise in their bilateral trade exchanges has significantly contributed to the ongoing global economic recovery.

Historic changes are also taking place in direct investments between China and the US, as the former's investment in the latter has expanded over the past few years. China's direct investment in the US has outstripped that of the US in China since 2012.

By the end of 2014, US investment in China was estimated at more than $76 billion, with the Chinese investment in the US reaching $47 billion.

According to Rhodium Group, the amount of Chinese enterprises' investment in the US has increased by 27 percent per year from 2010 to 2014, generating more than 80,000 jobs in about 44 states. Such interactions have not only boosted US employment, exports and economic growth, but also nurtured more competent Chinese enterprises to bolster the country's deepening economic reform.

Secondly, China and the US are undergoing a few vital structural adjustments, ranging from institutional innovations to cooperative measures, which are expected to tighten bilateral economic ties. China, for its part, is making efforts to forge an open economic system which features a market-oriented economy, while the US has a robust economic recovery and governments at all levels are stepping up their efforts to open their doors to Chinese investment.

In such cases, complementary cooperation between the two countries could be enhanced in finance, technology, market, resources and energy sectors, and potential cooperation in traditional and emerging industries might be better tapped.

The US-China bilateral investment treaty now under negotiation, if approved, would likely help China integrate into the global investment system and enable enterprises from both countries to cooperate in a stable, fair and transparent manner. Fundamental progress is expected to be made in the exchange of negative lists before Xi's upcoming US visit.

Cooperation is also gaining momentum at state level. The states of California, Texas, Iowa and the Illinois city of Chicago in 2013 set up a working group to boost bilateral trade and investment with their Chinese counterparts.

Another group is to be announced between the state of Michigan and some Chinese provinces.

The author is minister for commercial cffairs at the Chinese Embassy to the United States.

(China Daily 09/24/2015 page21)