Premier Li: China, US need cooperation, not conflict

There are a lot that China and the United States can achieve by working together, and encirclement and suppression are in no one's interests, said Premier Li Qiang on Monday.

Addressing a news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Li said China and the US can and must cooperate. The two countries are closely intertwined economically, and both have benefited from the other side's development.

Li noted that two-way trade between the two countries rose to a record high of nearly $760 billion in 2022, citing statistics from the Chinese side.

Li said there are some people in the US who have been trumpeting decoupling with China in recent years.

"But I wonder how many people can truly benefit from this kind of hype," Li said.

Citing his own experiences while working in Shanghai, Li said he had a lot of opportunities to talk with the senior managers of multinational corporations including many US companies.

They were optimistic about the future of Shanghai and China, and they believed that cooperation is the sure path to win-win outcomes, said the premier.