Instead of making others like each other, Cui Tiankai: China and the United States need to find ways to handle their relationship with mutual respect
Former Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, stated on the 3rd at the 11th World Peace Forum in Beijing that China and the United States should find ways to handle their relationship with mutual respect, "rather than a problem that anyone wants to please.".
Cui Tiankai responded to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent statement on China. A few days ago, after his visit to China, Antony Blinken told the media that "the United States will continue to defend the interests and values of the United States, continue to do things that China does not like, and say things that China does not like".
Cui Tiankai answered a question on the forum that day, saying that China has never expected the United States to like what it says or does. China and the United States need to find ways to handle their relationship with mutual respect, truly achieving peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, rather than being a matter of who wants whom to like.
As the longest serving Chinese Ambassador to the United States to date, Cui Tiankai stated when discussing the development of Sino US relations that the US often talks about the need for "guardrails," but he has always had reservations about this statement. "If the relationship between the two countries is on the wrong track, what is the use of a 'guardrail'?" Cui Tiankai said, first of all, it is necessary to ensure that the relationship between the two countries is on the right track, which requires sufficient efforts from both sides and political will from both sides to achieve.
Cui Tiankai emphasized that China and the United States have a common responsibility to stabilize their relationship, which is beneficial for both countries and the world. For this, both parties need to find the right way to get along. Overall, I still have confidence. Taking the cooperation between China and the United States in fighting against the Ebola virus during his tenure as an example, he said that both sides can engage in practical cooperation in many fields.
Cui Tiankai also revealed that when China proposed the "the Belt and Road" initiative and established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, it had sought cooperation from the United States, but the United States had not accepted it. "If the US had accepted our proposal at that time and our two countries had done this together, the current situation might have been different," he said.