3:23 PM
Waa Haa Haa
|
Even
in difficult times, Chinese and U.S. leaders remain strongly committed
to open communication, Tan yingzi and Cheng guangjin report from
Washington and Beijing.
The coming visit of
Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping is expected to provide an opportunity
to further promote public diplomacy between the two countries.
Xi is visiting the United States at the invitation of Vice-President Joe Biden, starting from Feb 13 to 17.
"I
hope that my visit can play a positive role in advancing the Sino-U.S.
partnership," Xi said from Beijing prior to his visit to the U.S.
During
his visit, aside from Biden, Xi will meet President Barack Obama on Feb
14. He is also scheduled to visit Iowa, where he will visit the
American families that hosted him during his visit in 1985. On Feb 16,
he will deliver a speech to the local business community in Los Angeles.
"It
is a very good thing," David Lampton, director of the China Studies
Program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told China Daily. "He
will be welcomed."
Lampton, a veteran China
hand, said it is important that the new generation of Chinese leaders
have good personal knowledge of their American counterparts, so that
when they work together in the future they can have a considerable
amount of familiarity with each other.
In
mid-January, at a meeting commemorating 40 years since U.S. president
Richard Nixon made his historic visit to China in 1972, Xi expressed his
desire to develop a cooperative partnership with Americans.
"No
matter what changes might take place in the international situation,
our commitment to developing the Sino-U.S. partnership should never
waver for temporary development," Xi said.
The
vice-president urged the two sides to respect each other's core and
major interests, as well as properly handle their differences, in order
to foster bilateral ties.
He also urged the
two sides to strengthen contact at all levels, promote cooperation in
the economic and trade fields, and improve coordination on international
and regional issues.
People to people
The year 2011 saw a surge in diplomacy between the world's two largest economies.
On
a chilly winter morning in January last year, students at Chicago's
Walter Payton Prep burst into cheers when the smiling Chinese President
Hu Jintao walked into their classroom and invited them to his homeland
in the following summer.
This school trip
during Hu's state visit to the U.S. signaled that Beijing was making a
great effort to give public diplomacy a more important role in the
world's most complicated and important bilateral relationship. In
addition to the close trade ties and a wide range of common interests in
global affairs, people-to-people communication is becoming a third
pillar to support the sound development of the China-U.S. relations.
Hu's
visit not only boosted confidence in the bilateral ties but also
jump-started a series of intensive high-level official exchanges and
public diplomacy programs in 2011.
The two
sides resumed military exchanges after the falling out in 2010 over U.S.
plans to sell Taiwan more than $6 billion worth of arms. Communication
on political, economic and security issues reached an unprecedented
level through various mechanisms, such as the China-U.S. Strategic and
Economic Dialogue, the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, human
rights dialogue and two rounds of consultation on Asia-Pacific affairs.
There have also been more people-to-people exchanges since then.
In
September Chinese Culture Minister Cai Wu led a large delegation to the
U.S. and delivered his first public speech in Washington D.C. A
month-long Chinese Art Festival was staged in the capital with
performances of traditional and modern arts.
A
rare exhibition of the development of Christianity in China was held
across the United States, starting in Washington D.C., in September,
showcasing the diversified life of 23 million Chinese Christians.
One
of the highlights in public diplomacy was the launch of the China-U.S.
Governors Forum, an innovative approach to fostering direct interaction
at the sub-national level to promote economic growth and prosperity. It
came during a period when U.S. officials are trying to boost the local
economy by export and foreign investment, while their Chinese
counterparts are looking for more overseas expansion.
In
July, four Chinese provincial leaders from Zhejiang, Anhui, Yunnan and
Qinghai met U.S. governors and business leaders in Utah to exchange
views on trade and investment, green energy, environmental protection
and education.
More than 20 U.S. governors
participated in the forum and 15 states had one-on-one meetings with
Chinese governors. The two sides signed more than 20 agreements or
memorandums of understanding (MOUs).
Three
months later, six forward-thinking American governors paid a reciprocal
trip to China to explore trade opportunities with their Chinese
counterparts. The U.S. officials came from Washington, Georgia, Hawaii,
North Carolina, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The
two countries have seen sub-national level exchanges for more than 10
years, including 36 sister provinces and states and 161 pairs of
sister-cities, according to the U.S. Department of State. The forum was
aimed at formalizing "relationships between the leaders who are best
placed to understand the economic, educational and environmental needs
of their respective states and provinces," said Reta Jo Lewis, special
representative for global intergovernmental affairs at the U.S.
Department of State.
Posted in: နိုင္ငံတကာသတင္း
0 comments:
Post a Comment